President-elect Obama has second thoughts about a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. The main problem? $45 oil. I’m not about to hop on the Obama-bashing wagon because I understand that your campaign rhetoric can turn on a dime once you are privy to the info of the Oval office. Obama shelves oil company [...]
Oil continued to tumble on the London and NY Mercantile exchanges into the low $90′s. This represents the lowest crude has been in the past seven months. Brokerage giant, Lehman Brothers slid into insolvency as attempts to rescue the nearly 160 year-old institution failed this weekend. With the fear that Merrill Lynch would be the [...]
Ike stormed ashore this weekend and everyone feared the worst. With Galveston hit by the storm surge and millions in damage in Houston’s downtown, gas prices in the Gulf shores were jumping to $5 and $6 per gallon. The Texas coast and vicinity is home to 20 percent of the nations oil refinery capacity. As [...]
And I don’t mean on the way up, either. The Gustav effect has passed, the summer driving season in the US is over and Gasoline/crude supply is flush. That giant ‘woosh’ sound are the investors fleeing the market. On the overnight Asian markets, crude dropped to around $106/bbl. London and the NY Merc are next! [...]
As I have stated before in this column, markets tend to react based on emotion before coming to their economic senses. Today, I am tracking the Russia-Georgia conflict and its effect on the financial markets. Crude is trading steady midday despite the on-again / off-again news of a cease fire in the region. I’m glad, [...]
President Bush withdrew the offshore drilling ban. The crude market reacted by dropping nearly 20% before any appreciable uptick. Does that mean that even one more drill site is struck and pumping? Absolutely not, but as I have stated in this blog before, perception is reality. Now, I have a suggestion…
Quite the contrary…I DO like Mondays. It’s the start of the week and a challenge to do great things for the week. It may be a little rainy and overcast in Northern NJ right now, but I am anticipating this week. The Boomtown Rats may have sung that Brenda Ann Spencer didn’t like Mondays – [...]
If you read my post of 5 July (Are the Russians Looking Towards Nationalization?), you may remember that a small consortium of Russian billionaires were looking to wrest control of the TNK-BP joint venture from BP. Looks like these guys are serious!
