The Dow and the S&P 500 ended lower on Monday (April 21) while crude oil hit record highs and sent U.S. gasoline prices soaring to nearly $4.00 a gallon on average. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.34 points, or 0.19 percent, to 12,825.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2.16 points, or 0.16 percent, at 1,388.17. But the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 5.07 points, or 21 percent, at 2,408.04. Crude oil prices hit a record high of nearly $118 a barrel on Monday as rebel attacks cut Nigerian supplies and a Scottish refinery strike threatened North Sea crude production. Oil prices have more than quadrupled since 2002 as supply struggles to keep pace with surging demand from emerging economies such as China. Americans are feeling the price at the pump where, according the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average price of gas is nearly $4.00 a gallon. AAA Spokesperson, Robert Sinclair said that that average will soon get even higher. "$4.00 a gallon seems like a foregone conclusion. How much it goes beyond that really depends on how much people keep investing in oil as a commodity, how much lower the dollar goes, and God forbid, a bad hurricane season. If we get another Katrina-like disaster this year, all bets are off; gasoline prices are going to go through the roof to levels that we've never seen before, nor imagined," said Sinclair. Further support for oils climb came as OPEC officials said the market had enough oil and that the producer group...
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Added: May 9, 2008 |
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