In the blustery winter of 1950, U.S. Major General Oliver Smith and his elite 1st Marine Division were surprise attacked by some 3000 Chinese troops as the Americans attempted to take control of the mountainous eastern coast of North Korea.
In energy news Thursday, experienced a pullback from Wednesday’s gains. Crude for September delivery fell $2.69 to $124.08 a barrel, while September reformulated gasoline lost 3% to close at $3.07 a gallon. For the month, crude prices fell almost $16 a barrel, the largest monthly drop in history.
Oil’s losses were heavily influenced by the poor economic data released by the Commerce Department Thursday, spurring speculation that demand for the commodity will continue to face falling demand.
“Frankly, we are surprised demand destruction is not accelerating more than it has thus far,” wrote Edward Meir of MF Global. “We could see more retrenchment set in late in the third quarter.”
“Momentum is still to the downside,” Meir concluded.
The only positive energy news on…
If you’re a global investor looking for global profits – including one potential way to double your money – you need to “Hit the BRICs.”
Big Media are ignoring the real problems in the oil market, says energy expert Dave Gonigam in The Daily Reckoning.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (ADR: RDS.A, RDS.B) announced record quarterly income of more than $10 billion yesterday (Thursday). But continued production problems and declining output caused both companies to miss analyst expectations, and concerns about reduced U.S. consumer demand weighed on shares.Exxon Mobil reported that second-quarter income rose 14% to $11.68 billion, marking the highest one-quarter earnings level ever for a U.S. company. The profit, which amounted to $2.22 per share, was up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 per share, for the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell also was able to breakthrough the $10 billion level when it reported second-quarter income increased 33% from $8.67 billion to $11.56 billion.
On July 11, oil futures…
For most of the last decade the government has trumpeted its economic record. Growth was steady. Prices were stable. Employment was rising. But there was a big problem. At first, the government thought it had solved it. In fact, all it did was bury the problem under a big pile of taxpayers’ money. Now the public finances are screwed up. The government can no longer afford to keep this problem under control. It’s about to hit the economy with a vengeance.
In energy news Wednesday, oil surged upwards rebounding from their losses the previous day. Crude for September delivery rose by $4.58 to finish at $126.77 a barrel, while September reformulated gasoline rose to $3.1399 a gallon, up 12.7 cents.
In energy news, oil prices rose slightly Monday as international tensions outweighed concerns of lower U.S. demand. Crude for September delivery closed at $124.73 a barrel, up $1.47, while August-reformulated gasoline rose almost 4 cents to $3.07 a gallon.
Chevron Corp. (CVX) – the No. 2 U.S. oil company and the most-recent topic of Money Morning’s new “Buy, Sell or Hold” feature – said that a hurricane-induced evacuation of its personnel from the Gulf of Mexico should not hamper production.
With the price of oil shooting through the roof, one of the most fascinating questions is just how much all the oil out there is actually worth. The other big question is how do you get your slice of it?
