Crude hits $40 for first time post-1990

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?jsessionid=NV3MN42AO5JKOCRBAEZSFEY?type=businessNews&storyID=506686§ion=finance

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures jumped to $40 (22.3 pounds) a barrel today, their highest level in 13-1/2 years, on widespread worries that supply will be disrupted from an increasingly violent Middle East.

Resuming a rally after prices sagged on Thursday on profit-taking, NYMEX June crude's new peak surpassed on Friday the $39.99 high hit on February 27, 2003. That is the loftiest level since prices reached an all-time high of $41.15 on October 10, 1990, two months after Iraq invaded Kuwait and amid the build-up that led to the first Gulf war.

...just a bit more...

[barbaraann]

1. Gee. What a coinkydink!

Gas prices high when oilmen are President!

[liberalron]

2. It's only just begun.......

Just go to Google, or whatever is your Search Engine and type in "Peak Oil", then peruse what you find there. You could also do the same thing with "The real cost of gasoline".
Our "Leaders" are just playing around the edges. They are not dealing with, or informing the citizenry as to, our most real and serious problems, which also includes the consequences of Global Warming.

[radfringe]

3. just my 20-cents (2-cents adjusted for rise in fuel price)

regular gas in my neck of the woods (Wilkes-Barre Pa)is in the range of 1.80 - 1.85, premium has hit $2.00 - $2.10

FUEL COSTS --Truckers boycott
http://ydr.com/story/business/24414/
Friday, May 7, 2004

NORFOLK, Va. — Independent truckers protesting high fuel prices and low pay began a two-day boycott Thursday at Hampton Roads port, one of the busiest cargo ports on the East Coast.

Truckers want a fuel surcharge to compensate for rising diesel costs. They also want a public registry showing how much the shipping lines pay in fuel surcharges to the trucking companies.

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Rising oil prices threaten economy, experts warn
Consumers to feel pinch in costs of food, gasoline, airline tickets, deliveries
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/bal-te.bz.oil07may07,0,6553810.story?coll=sfla-business-front
By Lorraine Mirabella and Bill Atkinson -- Sun Staff
Posted May 7 2004

As the price of crude oil approaches record highs, the impact is beginning to flow far beyond the corner gas station.

It's slicing through the economy, cutting into corporate profits, raising the cost of food, airline tickets, delivery services and countless other products.

The cost of petroleum-based consumer goods -- everything from plastic wrap to Goretex to aspirin, luggage, surfboards and nylon stockings -- is expected to rise.

Combined with record gasoline prices at the pumps, the spreading energy inflation means that Americans will have less spending power -- which is likely to dampen the economic recovery, experts say.

For every $5 per barrel increase in the price of oil, roughly half a percentage point is shaved from the U.S. gross domestic product, economists say. Currently, that would be about $55 billion a year in lost production.

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Fuel prices becoming U.S companies' darling excuse
http://www.forbes.com/personalfinance/funds/newswire/2004/05/05/rtr1360183.html
Reuters, 05.05.04, 1:41 PM ET -- By Michael Flaherty

NEW YORK, (Reuters) - When it comes to weak financial results, rising fuel prices is a darling excuse for corporate America.

Fuel costs are indeed a valid concern, particularly for the fuel-dependent airline and trucking industries, or chemicals producers using oil as a raw material.

But when retailers start blaming the pump for any earnings shortfalls, some economic experts are wary that the fuel culprit has become too convenient a catch-all.

"Companies tend to latch onto whatever they can. It's not just fuel costs. They also like to blame weather," said Anthony Chan, chief economist for Banc One Investment Advisors.

Chan, whose firm manages $190 billion in equity and fixed income assets, said the price of oil is a legitimate concern.

Companies, even those in the transportation sector, however, shouldn't play the blame game, as any viable business model should be able to withstand a bump in fuel prices, he said.

In the last month, the fuel blame has indeed flung from several business sectors.

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meanwhile :evilgrin: the ass continues to jawbone, puff himself up with hot air, and spreads fertilizer :evilgrin

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. Could this slow the economy down?