saudi arabia

If you think you're paying a lot at the gas pump now, just wait until summer hits. Stronger demand could lead to record gas prices as an economic recovery takes hold and turmoil in the Middle East sends the price of oil upward. How high? $5 a gallon isn't out of the realm of the possible.

The smart money has been predicting lately that gas prices would fall. Oil has been below $90 a barrel since early August and the International Energy Agency has cut its estimates for crude oil use for the year. But the price of a gallon of unleaded is the virtually the same as it was a year ago.

The macaron is a filled cookie about the diameter of a half dollar coin that has become a foodie currency in its own right in recent years. It's simple in concept, but near impossible to get right -- and for the first time, Laduree, the French bakery and tearoom that made them famous is opening a U.S. boutique. So, let them eat cake!

Describing the president as deeply concerned about the impact on global economic growth of oil supply disruptions in the Middle East and North Africa, the Obama administration announced it would release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next 30 days.

Just as fast as gas prices rose, they're now in retreat. Monday's AAA Fuel Report Gage puts the national average of regular at $3.703, down from $3.970 a month ago. Several factors could push gas below $3.50 over the next several weeks, and almost none of them were part of the economic landscape a quarter ago.

Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips are all trading near multi-year highs, and even BP shares have done well recently. Still, while the high oil prices that have been pinching consumers have been great for the industry, there are good reasons not to count on those high stock values lasting.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said his country cut oil production in March because the market was oversupplied. Was this move an honest bid to a bid to expose the speculators and push prices back down, or an attempt to capitalize on the current instability to propel prices higher?

Despite turbulent times, U.S. markets are rising again. But is this a temporary bump, or the return of a bull market? The sharp-eyed analysts of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs say its the latter, and their money is on strong growth ahead.

Some investors have been running scared after the quake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan and left it with an ongoing nuclear crisis. But when there's gloom in the air, there's also opportunity to buy on the dip and gain from the rebound.

The Japanese are the world's most voracious consumers of luxury goods, from Louis Vuitton handbags to Cartier jewelry to Hermes high fashion. So purveyors of those luxury goods are justifiably worried about the effect of the Japanese quake and tsunami on their bottom lines.