Oil hovers near 2-year high on cold snap, tighter stocks

Oil prices trade near two-year highs...
Oil prices traded close to recent two-year highs on Thursday, as traders continued to absorb news that US crude reserves fell by more than double market expectations last week. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February rose eight cents to 93.73 dollars per barrel after soaring on Wednesday to 93.94 dollars -- a level last seen in early October 2008. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February, gained 10 cents to 90.58 dollars on Thursday, after touching a similar peak of 90.8...

Gasoline Grinch arrives with pump prices above $3
Pump prices continue to rise in the Washington metropolitan area. Gasoline prices ticked up a penny over the past week. NEW YORK -- The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline topped $3 a gallon on Thursday, just in time for the holiday driving trips millions of Americans will take this week. The average pump price rose about a cent and a half a gallon overnight, to $3.01, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's 14 cents more than a month ago and 43 ...

Soybeans, corn rise on Argentina weather concerns
NEW YORK — Grain prices rose Wednesday as investors worried that a drought in Argentina might damage soybeans and corn growing in that country. Argentina is the world’s second-largest exporter of corn and the third-largest exporter of soybeans. The country has had dry weather for the past seven weeks. If that keeps up, it could reduce the size of the country’s harvest. "The fear is the pattern is going to continue," said Tim Hannagan, senior grain analyst for brokerage PFG Bes...

Gasoline Grinch arrives with pump prices above $3
A recent study from business management firm PortiaGroup, using data from OSIP, says consumers will likely pay about $1.35 more a gallon during the 12 days of Christmas (from Dec. 25 to Jan. 6) than during the same period of 2008-2009. The rising price of Crude Oil has been pushing up the price of Gasoline for the past month, and the trend continued Thursday. Benchmark crude rose 78 cents to $91.26 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in midday trading. That's the highest point in two...

Gold and dollar slide Thursday
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold lost $7, 0.6 percent, to $1,380.40 per troy ounce. Crude Oil Prices for February delivery added $1.05 to $91.53 per barrel. The benchmark 10-year treasury note fell 13/32, causing yields to rise to 3.397 from Wednesday's 3.348 percent, as The Dollar index dropped 0.33 percent. The euro rose to $1.3117 from Wednesday's $1.3099. Against the yen, The Dollar dropped to 82.92 yen from Wednesday's 83.54 yen. The dollar fell across most of...

Gas prices top $3 a gallon
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Gas Prices surpassed the milestone $3 mark Thursday for the first time since Oct. 17, 2008, as the national average compiled by motorist group AAA reached $3.013 a gallon. Gas prices have risen more than 4% from $2.872 a month ago and are nearly 16% higher than the $2.585 average a year ago, according to the AAA figures. Email Print Comment Prices have been climbing steadily since bottoming out at $1.616 in December 2008. However, the average price is down $1.101 -- ...

Gas pump prices rise above $3
Positive economic news helped push Oil Prices higher on Thursday. The Commerce Department said that consumers spent more in November than the month before. And the Labor Department said that the number of people applying for Unemployment Benefits fell by 3,000 last week to 420,000. A weaker dollar also supported higher oil prices. Since oil is priced in dollars, it becomes more affordable to investors with foreign currency like the euro as The Dollar falls. Benchmark crude rose $1.03 to settle...

New Interest in Turning Gas to Diesel
By MATTHEW L. WALD NYT WASHINGTON — Diesel and jet fuel are usually made from Crude Oil. But with Oil Prices rising even as a glut of Natural Gas keeps prices for that fuel extraordinarily cheap, a bit of expensive alchemy is suddenly starting to look financially appealing: turning Natural Gas into liquid fuels. A South African firm, Sasol, announced Monday that it would spend just over 1 billion Canadian Dollars to buy a half-interest in a Canadian Shale Gas field, so it can explore turning...

Diesel, jet fuel made from natural gas
Image by philipbouchard via Flickr NY Times: Diesel and jet fuel are usually made from Crude Oil. But with Oil Prices rising even as a glut of Natural Gas keeps prices for that fuel extraordinarily cheap, a bit of expensive alchemy is suddenly starting to look financially appealing: turning Natural Gas into liquid fuels. A South African firm, Sasol, announced Monday that it would spend just over 1 billion Canadian Dollars to buy a half-interest in a Canadian Shale Gas field, so it can explore...

Gasoline, nationally, tops $3 per gallon
NEW YORK, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The national average price of gasoline breached the $3 mark Thursday as oil prices in New York flirted with two-year highs. Crude oil prices have escalated on encouraging economic news, cold winter weather and recent draws in U.S. stockpiles. Drivers have also increased time spent on the road this year, giving momentum to oil, which is a bellwether for consumer prices. AAA said a gallon of unleaded gasoline across the country cost on average $3.013 Thursday, up from $2...

J. Andrews, others to get special Grammys
A formal acknowledgment of the presentation of the prizes for career excellence will be made as well during the 53rd annual Grammy Awards telecast, which will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles Feb. 13, the Academy said Wednesday. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, was hospitalized in California after accidentally gluing his eye shut. 'Speak' is No. 1 on the U.S. album chart NEW YORK, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Crude Oil ...

Oil, gas prices rise in extended cold snap
Combined with heavy winter demand for heating fuel, light, sweet crude for February delivery prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange added 61 cents, 0.6 percent, to $90.43 per barrel. Heating Oil Prices gained 1.18 cents to $2.5409 per gallon. Reformulated Gasoline prices gained 2.04 cents to $2.402 per gallon. Henry Hub Natural Gas prices shed 5.9 cents to $4 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the national average price of unleaded Gasoline jumped to $2.997 per gallon Wednesday...

Oil rises above $90 amid US crude supply drop
SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil Prices rose above $90 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude supplies dropped more than expected for a second week, which suggests demand is improving. Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 20 cents to $90.02 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 45 cents to settle at $89.82 on Tuesday. The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories fell 5.8 million...

Oil rises above $90...
SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil Prices rose above $90 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude supplies dropped more than expected for a second week, which suggests demand is improving. Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 19 cents to $90.01 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 45 cents to settle at $89.82 on Tuesday. The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories fell 5.8 ...

Gold prices hold steady
Published: Dec. 21, 2010 at 4:41 PM NEW YORK, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Gold prices held steady Tuesday in New York as investors moved toward equities, which gained on Wall Street. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold lost 70 cents to $1,385.40 per troy ounce. Crude Oil Prices for February delivery added 44 cents to $89.81 per barrel. The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 9/32, causing yields to fall to 3.307 percent from Monday's 3.34 percent. The Dow Jones industrial avera...

Thomson Reuters tax unit plans expansion
Thomson Reuters’ tax and Accounting division is planning a push into Europe and Asia as it seeks to exploit the crackdown by treasuries on tax avoidance and the harmonisation of international Accounting standards. Roy Martin, the division’s chief executive, said it was looking for acquisitions in continental Europe, the traditional stronghold of Wolters Kluwer, its Dutch rival, and would launch products for Asian markets including China, Taiwan and South Korea in the first quarter of 2011....

Get ready for skyrocketing energy prices
Earlier this week the president said his singular focus for the next two years will be on The Economy. Of course we have heard this from the president since he took office and he told us that we must pass the now failed stimulus package to keep Unemployment from reaching eight-percent. Now, as Unemployment has hovered near ten-percent for nearly two years, President Obama continues to pay lip service to the economy while implementing policy that is detrimental to Economic Growth. The Politico is...

Consumer Spending Back Normal? Not So Fast
NEW YORK (Reuters) - As U.S. Retailers get ready to box up their Christmas decorations after a better-than-expected Holiday Season, many shoppers plan to join them by putting their wallets back in storage. Consumers hit stores in droves this year and are feeling better about their prospects. But they still confront bleak job prospects and still are trying to pay down their hefty Debt loads. That sets the stage for a "spending diet" come January, which could weigh on U.S. Economic Growth, since...

Airlines sitting on stashes of cash
Number of the day $23.8 billion That's how much cash the six largest U.S. Airlines held at the end of September, more than in any year since at least 1999, according to Bloomberg data. As the carriers dig out from two years of collective losses, they're likely to use the cash to cut Debt and build a cushion against future shocks, rather than return the money to shareholders through dividends or buybacks, according to Fitch and S&P; analysts. Story on D2 . Hear here "Taiwan has been the wild, ...

Airlines sitting on stashes of cash
Number of the day $23.8 billion That's how much cash the six largest U.S. Airlines held at the end of September, more than in any year since at least 1999, according to Bloomberg data. As the carriers dig out from two years of collective losses, they're likely to use the cash to cut Debt and build a cushion against future shocks, rather than return the money to shareholders through dividends or buybacks, according to Fitch and S&P; analysts. Story on D2 . Hear here "Taiwan has been the wild, ...

Republicans are preparing to sabotage economic recovery
Republicans don't care how high the Unemployment Rate goes. They don't care how badly The Economy collapses. In fact they believe their chances to elect their Candidate to the presidency in 2012 improves the worse America does. They will even sabotage progress to win. They have already demonstrated that in their willingness to hold America hostage for Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest Americans. They rail against Unemployment because it raises the Deficit according to them. They don't care about raisi...

Commodify Your Zero Percent
Proving that Ben Bernanke can even screw up the economics of Christmas, the price of a lump of coal has increased more than 63 percent in the last year and a half. Commodity specialists Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene designate a new, Euro-style intellectual movement -- "Bernankeism" -- to try and make some sense of the chaotic set of principles guiding the Federal Reserve Bank chairman's decisions. You need to understand the scale of the Ben Bernanke project to appreciate how completely...

China's Shandong Airlines to buy 15 Boeing planes
China's Shandong Airlines said Friday it plans to buy 15 Boeing passenger planes worth up to 1.2 billion US dollars amid fast-growing demand for Air Travel in the Asian country. The catalogue price of each Boeing 737-800 Aircraft is between 75 million US dollars and 80 million US dollars but the US aerospace giant is offering unspecified price concessions, the airline told the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The 15 planes will be delivered between 2014 and 2015, it said. Boeing said in November that it...

China's Shandong Airlines to buy 15 Boeing planes
China's Shandong Airlines said Friday it plans to buy 15 Boeing passenger planes worth up to 1.2 billion US dollars amid fast-growing demand for Air Travel in the increasingly prosperous country. The catalogue price of each Boeing 737-800 Aircraft is between 75 million US dollars and 80 million US dollars but the US aerospace giant is offering unspecified price concessions, the airline told the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The 15 planes will be delivered between 2014 and 2015, it said. Boeing said i...

China will further boost economic ties with Africa
China will boost further its already expanding economic ties with Africa, which reached a record two-way volume of more than $100 billion this year, the government said Thursday. Chinese demand for oil, gas, iron ore and other raw materials for its rapidly growing economy has spurred trade and investments in Africa in recent years. A central government report released Thursday said that in the first 11 months of this year, China-Africa trade volume reached $114.81 billion, a 43.5 percent year-on...