Cheaper Oil Drives Import Prices Down in April
U.S. import prices fell in April due to a drop in oil costs, a positive sign for household finances that also pointed to benign inflation pressures.
U.S. import prices fell in April due to a drop in oil costs, a positive sign for household finances that also pointed to benign inflation pressures.
Chevron says its quarterly profit fell 5 percent in the first quarter as oil prices slipped.
A sharp decline in the price of oil this month is making gasoline cheaper at a time of year when it typically gets more expensive.
Oil prices fell more than 2 percent on Wednesday as U.S. crude oil inventories grew to the highest level since 1990 and weak economic data stoked worries about energy demand.
It's impossible to predict how the Dow Jones industrial Average will move next. But we can look at the previous times the Dow hit record highs to see what followed.
The "fiscal cliff" compromise, even with all its chaos, controversy and unresolved questions, was enough to send the stock market shooting higher Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year.
The price of oil jumped by more than a dollar on Wednesday, to above $93 a barrel, after U.S. lawmakers passed legislation to avoid a fiscal cliff that could have pushed the world's biggest economy into recession, and reduced global demand for energy.
Oil prices fell as much as $2 a barrel Friday as doubts grew about whether political leaders in Washington could reach a deal on the fiscal cliff before the new year.
Benchmaark crude is up 48 cents to $85.57 around noon EST; the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index reveals that Americans feel better about the state of the world's largest economy than any point in the last five years.
Ample supplies helped send oil prices down to near $85 per barrel on Friday.Benchmark oil for December delivery was down 80 cents to $85.25 a barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil hasn't been that low since July 10.
Americans spend a lot of money on oil: about $632 billion a year. And the big oil producers report eye-popping annual profits, like ExxonMobil's $41 billion in 2011. Numbers like that may make you feel like we're getting robbed at the pump ... but it's not that simple.
Disappointing earnings reports from McDonald's, Microsoft and other companies dragged the stock market down Friday.
The price of oil rose more than 3 percent Tuesday on concerns about supplies from the Middle East and the North Sea.
When gas prices hit $4 at the pump earlier this summer, a lot of motorists were crying Uncle!" They'd be crying all the louder if they realized those first four bucks didn't cover half of it. It's just that the remainder is hidden in your tax bill.
The price of oil slipped below $92 a barrel on Monday as closely watched surveys showed the global economy remains weak. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for November delivery was down 47 cents to $91.72 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.













