HOUSTON Oil prices closed below $100 a barrel on Thursday during a session in which most commodity prices fell sharply, signaling that a recent run-up in commodities prices may finally be coming to an end.
After four months of surging higher, oil prices plummeted by almost 9 percent as traders worried that American drivers were beginning to balk at paying nearly $4 a gallon of gasoline.
Energy specialists had a variety of explanations for the drop, including Thursdays weak employment data and a strengthening dollar that tends to make all dollar-denominated commodities cheaper in dollars and more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Pop goes the bubble, said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, a consulting firm. It seems unlikely you will see any tightening in the market in the coming months. The worst of the political threats have passed us.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/business/06oil.html
After four months of surging higher, oil prices plummeted by almost 9 percent as traders worried that American drivers were beginning to balk at paying nearly $4 a gallon of gasoline.
Energy specialists had a variety of explanations for the drop, including Thursdays weak employment data and a strengthening dollar that tends to make all dollar-denominated commodities cheaper in dollars and more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Pop goes the bubble, said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, a consulting firm. It seems unlikely you will see any tightening in the market in the coming months. The worst of the political threats have passed us.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/business/06oil.html