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Big jump in gold sale spurs manipulation talk Some analysts say only manipulation is government's attempt to take down oil By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch Last update: 7:54 p.m. EDT Aug. 29, 2008 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Recent heat from Congress and regulators, along with public speculation, over whether commodity prices are being manipulated has also reached gold pits, where the debate was stirred by a surge in bets last month that gold prices would fall. "Congress is already investigating allegations of manipulation in the oil market, and it seems likely that it is only a matter of time before a...

The commodity bull market has a long way to go. This bull market is not magic. It's not some crazy 'cycle theory' I have. It does not fall out of the sky. It's supply and demand. It's simple stuff. In the 80s and 90s, when people were calling you to buy mutual fund and stocks, no one called to say, "Let's invest in a sugar plantation." No one called and said, "Let's invest in a lead mine." Commodities were in a bear market and in bear markets people do not invest in a productive capacity. They never have. Perhaps they...

Above is Yahoo! headline. Stocks jump on better-than-expected gross domestic product reading, decline in jobless claims NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks extended their advance in early trading Thursday after a better-than-expected reading on the nation's economy and a drop in jobless claims. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 150 points. Stocks gained as oil prices, up in early trading, reversed course.

Carter: Oil Industry Will Hold Down Prices to Help Republicans Former President Jimmy Carter tells 'Early Show' crude costs will remain low to benefit GOP in 2008 election. By Paul Detrick Business & Media Institute 8/27/2008 4:57:00 PM Former president Jimmy Carter predicted on August 27 that “oil companies will hold down oil prices a little bit, you know, to try to help the Republican ticket.” Carter, who was talking to co-host Harry Smith on “The Early Show” that morning, also said that the economy would be the most important issue, “as it was when Bill Clinton was elected the...

Don't blame the utility companies for high prices. They are only looking to the future ~snip~ Even after the sharp rises of the past two years, gas and electricity consumers are paying little more in real terms than they were in 1987. The energy consumers who have been hit are the mainly rural dwellers who rely on boilers fired by heating oil, propane or other liquid and gas fuels: prices of these fuels are much more volatile and have nearly doubled in three years. Since January 1, 1987, gas prices have risen by 144 per cent and electricity prices by...

... Almost certainly, now is not the moment for dramatic further price increases in energy, given the situation of the economy and the way in which consumers and many energy-using businesses are reeling. At the same time, with the economy getting used to far higher energy prices than were considered plausible even 18 months ago, it would be a great tragedy if prices were allowed to decline very sharply when the current crisis passes. So the crucial priority will be to maintain the momentum and incentive for savings caused by the current high-priced energy, whatever happens in the future. Right...

Gasoline prices fell Sunday, bringing down the nationwide average in a motorist group survey by more than 42 cents overall from a mid-July high. The price of regular unleaded gasoline at the pump fell four-tenths of a cent to $3.688 a gallon, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from motorist advocacy group AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. The average is based on credit card swipes at 100,000 service stations. Prices have fallen 10.4% since hitting a record high of $4.114 a gallon on July 17. The dip comes after U.S. crude for October delivery saw the largest...

OIL'S FUTURE PRICE IS REALLY DEPENDENT ON WHO YOU ASK By JOHN AIDAN BYRNE, Post wires Posted: 3:21 am August 24, 2008 Drivers looking for insight into how much they'll be paying at the pump this winter shouldn't look to Wall Street for any guidance - oil analysts on the Street don't seem to have a clue. Take the gaping difference between the estimates of oil analysts at two firms - Goldman Sachs and Hong Kong-based GaveKal Research. Goldman is predicting oil, which settled at $114.63 a barrel on Friday, will not continue its easing pattern but do an about-face...

It’s the dog days of summer, but with the price of heating one’s home expected to be even higher this year than last, Northeast Ohioans already are thinking — and worrying — about the cold months of winter. ... Northeast Ohioans who use heating oil are expected to be in worse shape. Compared to last year, Midwesterners are expected to see a 29 percent increase for the price per gallon of heating oil and a 26 percent increase for average household expenditures this winter.

Every time you fill your gas tank, you're participating in what Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens describes as “the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.” On average nationwide, roughly 38 percent of the cost of gasoline is tied to foreign-produced petroleum. Every time Americans spend $50 at the pump, they're sending about $19 abroad. From January through June, the United States spent $172 billion on crude-oil imports, compared with $103 billion in the first half of 2007. Many economists describe that money as a “foreign tax” on the U.S. economy, because much of it goes directly into...

Kudrin Uneasy Over Oil Price Downturn 22 August 2008 By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer Falling oil prices might mean that Russia will begin to spend its financial cushion, the Reserve Fund, in 2015, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday. The draft federal budget for the next three years, which the Cabinet approved Thursday, is based on the assumption that Russia's main oil blend, Urals, will sell at $95 per barrel next year. That would represent a sizeable drop from the average of $112 that Urals was trading at this week, according to figures from the Economic Development Ministry. As...

<p>Upset about paying $3.80 a gallon for gasoline? Hank Paulson, former Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) CEO, argued that it was all supply and demand so quit your bellyaching. I thought speculation was playing a big part -- traders who bought oil and sold the dollar to drive up the price. Indeed, a few months agao I found a source who thinks 60% of the volume was from speculators.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil prices fell more than 5.4 percent on Friday in the biggest one-day slide since 2004 as dealers turned their focus to rising supply levels and weakening global demand. A rebound in the U.S. dollar encouraged the sell-off, applying downward pressure across the commodities markets by weakening the purchasing power of buyers using other currencies, dealers said.

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street capped a volatile week with sharp gains Friday as oil retreated from this week's rally and after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said inflation pressures are likely to moderate. The Dow Jones industrial average rose nearly 200 points.</p>

Oil, the David Copperfield of financial market assets, pulled another impressive trick out of its hat yesterday. But it's getting harder to believe the illusion any more. Crude surged $5.62 (U.S.) to $121.18 a barrel in New York yesterday, storming back after dipping below $112 earlier in the week. The rebound has certainly caught the attention of the oil-fuelled Canadian stock market, which is up 3.6 per cent over the past two days. Sure, there were a few reasons tossed out there for oil's move: sabre-rattling by major oil producer Russia over a U.S. missile defence pact with Poland, jitters...

We've all read that speculators are driving oil prices artificially high — a claim that gets more interesting in light of oil's recent fall below $115. But maybe we're looking at it from the wrong perspective. Suppose that major suppliers in the oil industry are these manipulative speculators. Is it possible that oil prices are rigged? You bet. Here's how: Just how would you raise prices if you were an oil supplier? Controlling the supply — as in the 1973 OPEC embargo — has become less effective with more sources of oil worldwide. And oil suppliers clearly cannot raise prices...

A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading By David Cho Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 21, 2008; A01 Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive...

Headline at http://www.marketwatch.com/ Crude tops $121 to close at a more than two-week high; natural gas gains SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures climbed above $121 a barrel Thursday to close at a more than two-week high, as the dollar fell against other major currencies and as tensions between the U.S. and Russia worsened.

A few speculators dominate vast oil market Regulators: Swiss energy firm holds 11 percent of contracts on NYMEX Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size of Vitol's...

Oil up six bucks a barrel, drill here, drill now!!!!

WASHINGTON -- U.S. consumers should brace for the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years in 2008 and even more pain next year due to surging meat and produce prices, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose a dollar on Wednesday after Russia responded angrily to a U.S. missile shield agreement with Poland, raising the threat of a supply disruption from the huge energy producer. The gains were encouraged by a report earlier in the day from Goldman Sachs (GS.N), the biggest investment bank in the commodities market, reasserting a forecast that oil prices could hit a record $149 a barrel by the end of the year as supply struggles to meet rising demand in Asia. U.S. crude futures rose $1.00, to $115.53 a barrel, by 1830 GMT, while London...

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday after a sharp spike the previous day as the market reacted to a much larger-than-expected increase in US crude reserves, traders said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, dropped 1.22 dollars to 113.31 dollars a barrel. London's Brent North Sea crude for October shed 95 cents to 112.30 dollars. The US government's Department of Energy said Wednesday that US crude oil stockpiles climbed 9.4 million barrels in the week ending August 15 -- analysts had forecast a much smaller gain of 800,000 barrels. The DoE said US gasoline...

NEW YORK, USA (AFP): Crude oil prices spiked higher Tuesday after OPEC member Venezuela said it would ask the cartel at its September meeting to cut production if downward price pressure continues. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, jumped 1.66 dollars to close at 114.53 dollars a barrel.

Oil production has begun falling at all of the major Western oil companies, and they are finding it harder than ever to find new prospects even though they are awash in profits and eager to expand. Part of the reason is political. From the Caspian Sea to South America, Western oil companies are being squeezed out of resource-rich provinces. They are being forced to renegotiate contracts on less-favorable terms and are fighting losing battles with assertive state-owned oil companies. And much of their production is in mature regions that are declining, like the North Sea. The reality, experts say, is...

Quite unconcerned with the suffering of his fellow Americans, green lefty blogger Chris Bowers of Open Left is positively delighted that Americans are paying an arm and a leg for their gasoline. Bowers opines that sky-high gasoline prices constitute a "major progressive victory" and are actually good for America: "Higher gas prices have created a broad shift in American behavior that is good for the environment and good for progressives." The fact that mass transit ridership is up, while driving is down, helps the environment, he argues. Bowers contends that increased reliance on mass transit and reduced driving is good...

Many emerging economies employ fuel subsidies that keep domestic fuel prices far below the world price. As a result, these countries consume far more fuel than they would otherwise, says Robert H. Frank, an economist at the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. By one estimate, countries with fuel subsidies accounted for virtually the entire increase in worldwide oil consumption last year. Without this artificial demand stimulus, world oil prices would have been significantly lower. Earlier this summer, for example, world oil prices fell by $4 a barrel on news that reduced subsidies would increase Chinese domestic fuel prices...

Jack Risko of Dinocrat.com charts oil and gas prices, showing a pattern that looks very much like a speculative bubble. Notice in particular the freefall of natural gas prices (the red line), suggesting that oil prices may fall even further. Jack speculates that one motive for the Soviet invasion of Georgia is to threaten the major pipeline supplying Europe, thereby helping to sustain oil prices. A major fall of oil prices to pre-run-up levels would severely cut the income of Russia, not mention the oil states of the Gulf and Hugo Chavez.

<p>A federal auction of oil and gas leases on Colorado's scenic Roan Plateau generated nearly $114 million Thursday, a record for onshore energy lease sales in the lower 48 states.</p> <p>The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's auction netted more than 10 times the state's previous highest-grossing federal auction - $11.8 million in February 2006 - and underscored the push to develop domestic energy sources. The BLM estimates the plateau contains 9 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.</p>

If you had to bet whether the price of oil would be higher or lower 10 years in the future, what would you say? Some argue that the world is running out of low-cost oil and that oil prices will get higher and higher. Others argue that the current high price of oil will cause a flood of new oil, much of it from nonconventional sources; hence, prices will fall significantly (provided the political class in Washington, D.C., does not continue its energy and environmental death march policies). The case for much lower oil prices is as follows. There...

A list and way to track number of economic issues and problems associated with Russia and its financial system: Main Google news search including "RTS" Russia Becomes Worst 3rd-Quarter Stock Market on Oil (Update3) - Bloomberg - good read! Investment Week, UK... a near 30% decline in the RTS index in recent months Lukoil cuts sale price of diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil in August - from Polish source Europe Grapples with Russia-Georgia Woes"With energy supplies at risk, the recent conflict in the Caspian region might spur the West to seek other gas and oil sources""The very fact of the...

Crude Oil ForecastWill "Private" Oil Sink the NYMEX? Oil-Rich And Oil-Hungry Governments Are Ditching Conventional Markets And Locking Up Reserves… Here's How They Could Permanently Destabilize the Price of CrudeAn Investment U White Paper Report by Stewart Miller and the Investment U Research Team The world's largest governments are drastically changing the way they buy and sell oil. And it could affect every family, small business and multibillion-dollar corporation across the globe…So far, this historic shift has been scarcely reported. But the transformation is undoubtedly underway, and quietly altering the future of energy.Rapid economic expansion in Russia, India and, most importantly, China, has led...

The pound could soon dive to barely more than a dollar and a half while gold prices plunge to $650, experts predicted yesterday amid fresh evidence that the commodity boom is ending and the dollar's resurgence is under way. Michael Saunders, head of European economics at Citigroup, said it "would not be a surprise" if sterling fell to levels last seen in 2002 - around $1.55 - despite sitting above two dollars as recently as mid-July. His comments came as sterling dropped to a fresh two-year low against the dollar, down over a cent at $1.8632. Its recent series...

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices fell to the $111 level Friday, reaching their lowest point in more than three months after the dollar muscled higher and OPEC predicted world demand for energy will keep falling.

Remember all those times OPEC tried to tell us that they didn't want high oil prices and we didn't believe them? Well, they meant it. They knew that technology was available to crush oil demand but they hoped that the low price of oil would keep the technology buried. The cat's now out of the bag. The commodity run is over. The talking heads are trying to temper the recent selloff in oil by saying that it will settle around $100 a barrel but that is not what happens when a bubble bursts. Oil is headed back down to historical...

What a turn around. I saw predictions of this three months ago. Commodities down, bubble bursting Oil going to $80 let's hope

$65 oil is coming (maybe) A top analyst expects crude prices to start plummeting. If you don't believe it, you're not the only one, and a few stocks look good if you're in the skeptics' camp. By Jon Markman If you're frustrated over the high cost of gasoline at the pump, don't trade in your Hummer for a Vespa just yet: A leading energy analyst is telling clients these days to prepare for crude oil to retreat back below $65 per barrel over the next three years. How could it happen? He says conservation, new drilling, efficient new vehicles, alternative...

Opec last month pushed its production to the highest level in its 48-year history even as demand was slipping in the US and Europe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. The combination of surplus supply and weaker demand has pushed oil prices to $113.50 a barrel, down 24 per cent in the past month and the lowest level since late April. The effort was led by Saudi Arabia, which had come under increasing pressure for doing too little to compensate for lower supplies from countries outside Opec, where growth has been lacklustre as fields have aged in countries...

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens said on Thursday crude prices may soon fall as low as $110 a barrel amid falling gasoline demand, but should not sink below $100 because the United States depends heavily on oil imports. "I don't think it'll drop below $100," Pickens told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I would say $110 is where it might go, something like that." ~snip~ Pickens' hedge fund BP Capital, which manages about $7 billion in assets, sank about 35 percent in July, according to a report this week in the New York Post. Pickens declined to comment in...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission's rule against naked short positions in 19 banks was successful in the same way giving a baseball team four outs per inning is successful in helping it score more runs. Since the rule has been in place, Bank of America Corp. (BACbank of america corporation com News, chart, profile, more Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: BAC) is up 81%, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is up 41%, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPMJPMorgan Chase & Co News, chart, profile, more Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Talk of $200-per-barrel oil prices by the end of the year has quietly faded away and been replaced by forecasts for $100. It would be easy to say that crude oil has failed to meet market expectations, and a bear market may be in place. But the harder part is to figure out how long and to what point oil prices will fall. Projections earlier this year for oil prices as high as $200 fell flat, with prices unable to even reach $150. "Now analysts are lining up to say the top is in," said Sean...

Opec has called for its members to honour their production quotas in what amounts to a warning to key oil producers to cut output. “Except for Iraq and new members who are outside the Opec quota, the rest of the members should produce in the framework of their committed quota,” Chakib Khelil, the Opec president, was quoted as saying today in Tehran by the Iranian state news agency, Shana. His comments followed an oil price decline to below US$115 (about Dh422) a barrel during weekend trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after peaking at $147.27 a barrel a month...

President George W. Bush announced the dispatch of a U.S. military aircraft carrying medical supplies to the Georgian capital of Tblisi on Wednesday morning, warning Russia that he expected it to be allowed to deliver its aid by air and sea. The statement, with its echoes of the 1961 Berlin airlift, upped tensions between the two former Cold War adversaries. The day after Russia agreed to a French-brokered cease-fire, Russian troops followed by irregular fighters pushed deep into Georgia, aiming to seize the strategic city of Gori and cutting the main highway that crosses the country to the capital Tbilisi....

U.S. driving slid for the eighth straight month in June, making the decline more pronounced that the drop that occurred during the 1970s oil shock. The U.S. Department of Transportation said Americans drove 12.2 billion miles less in June than a year earlier. With that, the decline since November is now 53.2 billion miles, topping the 49.3 billion decline three decades ago. Rural travel has fallen 4% since late last year, while urban driving is off just 1.2%. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters used the latest data to again call for a rethinking of how the nation's transportation network is funded....

Mideast edition, Thursday, August 14, 2008 ARLINGTON, Va. — President Bush has ordered the U.S. military to begin a humanitarian mission in Georgia. "This mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said Wednesday at the White House, adding that a U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies was on its way to Georgia. Russian troops and tanks invaded the country last week in response to a Georgian offensive intended to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The Russian president later ordered Russian forces to halt their drive into Georgia, but it was unclear Wednesday whether Russian troops had moved further...

In late 2006, China for the first time in its history became a net coal importer. This changed the dyanmics of the world's energy market. Korea and Japan, previously importers of Chinese coal, were sent scrambling for alternative sources of energy. What they found in the winter of 2007 was LNG for $18-$20/BTU. China too was a willing buyer. The coal scramble was also felt in Europe. Australian coal was bottlenecked and/or kept in the Asian region. Power outages in South African coal mines made the situation worse for Europeans as they lost out on significant supply. What followed was...

<p>Oil prices staged a modest rebound Wednesday, rising above $114 a barrel after the government reported a plunge in U.S. gasoline supplies and a surprise drop in crude stockpiles.</p> <p>At the pump, a gallon of regular gasoline kept falling, shedding on average about a penny overnight to $3.787, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That's nearly 8 percent below record highs above $4 a gallon reached last month.</p>

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) support going ahead with offshore oil drilling, an issue that John McCain seized on in early June as a way to help lower gas prices and has since forced Barack Obama to at least partially agree with. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that over half (55%) agree with the Republican’s proposal to build more nuclear plants, although 32% disagree.

...High energy prices also have an unforeseen bright side, forcing the nation to reduce its carbon emissions and delivering the encouraging message that, although we might not regain the freewheeling way of life that came with cheap gasoline, we have more ability to shape our fates than the caricature of the soft, spoiled American implied. The first sign was when SUVs went from being the belles of the freeway to oversized wallflowers. Thirteen miles per gallon isn't just expensive; it's no longer chic. As U.S. automakers gear up for a new motoring sensibility, we can look forward to a more...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - The International Energy Agency said Tuesday that tight global oil demand and supply balance, which had helped push up crude prices to record highs, is easing as higher prices and slower economic growth in developed countries curbs oil demand. Global oil demand for this year is expected to stand at 86.9 million barrels a day, unchanged from the previous month's forecasts, the IEA said in an August monthly report. Oil supplies, on the other hand, are expected to remain strong. The world produced 87.8 million barrels of oil in July, up 890,000 barrels from the previous...