Crude for July delivery jumped more than $5 per barrel in New York yesterday (Wednesday) to close at $136.38 per barrel on declines in U.S. supplies and refinery activity.

Costs for solar thermal energy will be cheaper than coal as soon as 2020, according to a report from the US Department of Energy, making one solar ETF a great way to profit.

Google, Chevron and Goldman are all betting that this prediction is correct. This from Bloomberg:

Unlike photovoltaic solar panels that convert sunlight to electricity, solar thermal focuses sunrays with mirrors to heat oil in glass pipes to about 700 degrees Fahrenheit (370 degrees Celsius).

Perhaps part of the humor is that this comes at the same time as the price of gasoline went up 3 cents to another record high of an average of $3.70 a gallon. This is up 22% from this time last year! 22 percent! 22! Hahahaha!

You can bet there will be a lot of discussion about interest rates this week, thanks to the release of the producer price index (PPI) report tomorrow (Tuesday) and the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes on Wednesday.

Pemex better start exploring for more oil in the Gulf of Mexico or its going to pump out all its reserves in less than ten years. Mexican President Felipe Calderon went on national television last night in Mexico and told his countrymen (in Spanish, we presume), “We have to act now because we’re running out of time and out of oil.”