New York Mercantile Exchange

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Oil Prices Plunge to 5-Year Low
Oil Prices Plunge
to 5-Year Low 

Oil Prices Plunge to 5-Year Low

OPEC expected to slash production to push up prices

(Newser) - Oil prices continue to plunge as demand slackens amid the global economic downturn. Oil has dropped 19% drop this week, the biggest weekly decline in five years, reports Bloomberg. Prices have tumbled 70% since reaching a record $147.27 in July, and  some predict prices may dip as low as...

Gas Prices Plunge in Biggest Drop Ever

Demand and recession drive price down

(Newser) - The Dow isn't the only thing plummeting. Amid falling demand, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped over 35 cents in the last two weeks. The nationwide Lundberg Survey of 5,000 gas stations shows the cost of gas has slid more than 80 cents since March—...

Oil Sinks to $83 on Global Panic

(Newser) - Oil prices plummeted to a one-year low below $83 a barrel today in European trading as investor fears of a severe global economic downturn sparked a panicked sell-off. "The whole market has lost confidence in everything," said one commodities strategist. "Everyone is worried about global growth, and...

Gas Use Hits Record Low, Prices Still Sky High

Increasing supply fails to dent price

(Newser) - Soaring gas prices are changing Americans driving habits, cutting consumption to the lowest levels in five years, reports the Wall Street Journal. Gas consumption dropped by 3.3% to 9.3 million barrels a day compared with last year's Fourth of July holiday. Some 62% of Americans are changing summer...

Speculators Didn't Do It
Speculators Didn't Do It
Opinion

Speculators Didn't Do It

Traders take blame for high oil prices, but global demand is the real culprit

(Newser) - Politicians are blaming high oil prices on an old scapegoat: speculators, writes Dean Barnett in the Weekly Standard. But if speculators were hoarding oil, it would be stockpiled, and inventories would soar. Instead, inventories remain constant. This is obvious "to anyone who took an introductory economics class," Barnett...

As Prices Soar, Congress Aims at Speculators

Out-of-control traders may be driving up oil, food costs, pols say

(Newser) - Congress is blaming rampant commodity speculation for rocketing gas and food prices, and berating regulators for letting it happen, the New York Times reports. Unless watchdog groups like the Commodities Futures Trading Commision crack down, Carl Levin says, "we don’t have a cop on the beat.." Joe...

Feds Hunt for Scams in Crude Oil Trading

Speculators may be driving up crude by manipulation

(Newser) - Federal regulators are investigating whether rocketing oil prices are being driven up by speculators manipulating futures markets, reports the Wall Street Journal. The nationwide probe involves several separate investigations. Authorities suspect that a widely used price reporting system may be artificially influenced and that some oil storage facilities may be...

Oil Tops $130
 Oil Tops $130 

Oil Tops $130

Supply concerns drive crude

(Newser) - Oil set yet another record today, with prices hitting $130.47 a barrel in electronic trading in Asia and Europe, the AP reports, on supply concerns and renewed worries about the dollar. Crude closed at $128.98 in the last New York Mercantile Exchange session. Oil futures have roughly doubled...

Oil Flirts With Record-High $104
Oil Flirts With Record-High $104

Oil Flirts With Record-High $104

Passes inflation-adjusted all-time peak

(Newser) - As oil soared to nearly $104 a barrel today, it set an all-time, inflation-adjusted record, surpassing even the height of the oil crises of the '70s and '80s, the New York Times reports. Futures touched $103.95 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, beating out the April 1980 record of...

Oil Insanity Pinned to Speculators
Oil Insanity Pinned to Speculators

Oil Insanity Pinned to Speculators

Observers call current market 'hysteria' — and 'bubble'

(Newser) - Crude-oil prices have doubled in recent months, a development not linked to fundamental supply and demand—but rather, observers tell Der Spiegel, to rampant speculation among investors looking for a stable buck. The prospect of recession would typically drive prices down, but analysts say a decade-old oil investment rush by...

Commodities Markets in Merger Talks
Commodities Markets in
Merger Talks

Commodities Markets in Merger Talks

Chicago Mercantile Exchange targets New York counterpart in $11B bid

(Newser) - Owners of the Chicago and New York commodities exchanges are in preliminary talks that could end in an $11 billion merger of the two largest commodities markets in the US, reports the New York Times. NYMEX Holdings shareholders would receive $36 and 0.1323 of a share of CME's common...

All Eyes on OPEC for Oil Price Relief

Saudis expected to boost output as prices close in on $100

(Newser) - With oil prices poised to pass the $100 mark any day now, a pair of reports speculates that OPEC will cool the overheated market by boosting oil production, the Wall Street Journal reports. One consulting firm said OPEC, spurred by Saudi Arabia’s increased deliveries to the US, could up...

Oil Touches Record $97 a Barrel
Oil Touches Record $97 a Barrel

Oil Touches Record $97 a Barrel

Weak dollar and expected supply drop push crude to another record

(Newser) - Crude oil hit $97 a barrel today on the New York Mercantile Exchange, helped along by a weak dollar and an expected drop in supply—an especially impressive jump considering the 2% price drop yesterday. "What a difference a day makes," one analyst told MarketWatch. "This volatility...

Oil May Break $100 Barrier This Week

Some see 'violent correction' once $101.70 is shattered

(Newser) - With oil prices poised to break $100 a barrel this week, potentially punching through the inflation-adjusted record of $101.70 in 1980, speculation shifts to how long it will stay there. The steep rise—27% in 3 months—could set the stage for a dramatic fall. "We probably are...

14 Stories