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U.S. stocks fell on Friday as the price of oil set another record. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 120.90 points, or 0.94 percent, to end at 12,745.88 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX dropped 9.39 points, or 0.67 percent, to finish at 1,388.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 5.72 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at at 2,445.52. For the week, the Dow fell 2.4 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.8 percent and the Nasdaq slipped 1.3 percent. Part of the sell off can be blamed on Friday's spike in oil prices. On Friday, U.S. crude futures jumped more than $2 (USD) to another record high of $126.20 (USD) a barrel. This was the fifth day in a row that oil hit an all-time record high. There are various reasons why the price of oil keeps rising including geopolitical tensions in Nigeria, Venezuela, and Iran, increased oil consumption of emerging nations such as China and India, and a weak American dollar. After five straight days of record-setting oil prices, many analysts and investors are wondering how high the price of oil could go. Earlier this week, OPEC ministers and investment bankers predicted that oil could soon top $150 (USD) a barrel. Anthony Grisanti, President of GRZ Energy says we are one natural disaster away from $150 (USD) barrels of oil. He said, "There are some factors that could cause it to go to 150 a barrel. Number one is we haven't even talked about hurricane season which is going ot hit us in another month, and we've been lucky for two years. One hasn't hit the mainland. If one happens to get into the Gulf and starts hitting these oil producing facilities, we could easily see 150 dollars a barrel." Thanks to rising crude oil costs, the U.S. Energy Department predicts that gas prices will peak at $3.73 (USD) a gallon in June, the start of the summer driving season. Grisanti says U.S. consumers are partly to blame. He says, "We are a big reason why gasoline is where it is. We've doubled our consumption in seven years, one out of every two cars sold nowadays is an SUV that eats a lot of gas. So we're to blame as much as anybody else is to blame as far as why oil is where it is."
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Added: May 12, 2008 |
| Category: Business |
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