Worried investors send stocks sharply lower as crude tops $55 US per barrel

Yahoo ^ | Oct. 22, 2004 | MALCOLM MORRISON

[expat_panama]

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Worried investors send stocks sharply lower as crude tops $55 US per barrel

MALCOLM MORRISON

TORONTO (CP) - Crude oil that rose well past the $55 US a barrel level pressured stock markets Friday as investors also dealt with a string of tepid earnings reports.

The price of crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up 98 cents to a fresh high of $55.45 US a barrel on supply concerns - particularly heating oil inventories amid forecasts of a colder than usual winter in the U.S. Northeast.

Investors also found fault with many of the latest batch of earnings reports from the United States.

"We've been essentially range-bound," said Patricia Croft, chief economist and vice-president at Phillips, Hager and North.

"We get to the top of the range and people get a little bit frightened and then on we go but the uncertainties that were with us at the start of the year haven't really been resolved in terms of oil and economic outlook and the Fed and politics and those issues have still plagued the markets."

[Lord Nelson]

You have to laugh when the owner of a Lincoln Navigator, or Hummer complains about pump prices. My God, if you can afford your monthly payments you can afford to put gas in your tank.

Remember that broad accusing SUV owners of helping terrorists. What nonsense. The gas was likely refined in the United States, and the oil could have come from Venezuela, Alberta, Alaska, Mexico. In fact, I believe Californian gas demands such high emission standards they cannot use the sulfuric oil the Saudis pump out.

I no longer make any concessions to environmentalists. I consider them the enemies of Western Civilization. I know I’ve pumped this book here before – the Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg. He’s a little more merciful regarding enviro-terrorists than I am. But his logic is grounded when it comes to the nonsense about the pet causes of these fanatics. He mentions Al Gore a few times.

[Lord Nelson]

I leave the petro markets to the experts too. There are so many arguments on both sides of the equation. Chinese and Japanese demand on one side. World economic collapse on the other.

[muleboy]

I have developed a habit of looking at market activity through "political event" coloured glasses.

The 500 point loss on the DOW this month coincides with the tightening of the Presidential race beginning with the first debate, as well as Spitzer's actions and the Fannie Mae upheaval. When the political perceptions are combined with basic economic data, the profit outlook becomes decidedly "murky" for the next quarter or two.

I believe you accurately touched on one specific fear that Wall Street has, that seems to become more probable with every passing day, and would explain a large part of the past few weeks losses on the DOW.

It is the very real possibility that the election will be finalized in many court battles in many states, in a most disruptive and destabilizing manner.

Based on the headlines of the past week concerning voter registration irregularities and electronic voting challenges, it seems very possible that a winning margin of dozens of thousands of votes in a key state will still have to be adjudicated.

If Bush continues to trend upward during the next week, to a lead beyond the margin of error in battleground state polls, then the fear will subside and some significant buying will likely take place on 1Nov and election day. But if the race remains too close to call, there is little penalty for investors to wait until later in the week after the dust has settled.

Of course, in this day and age, both a terrorist attack and a last weekend surprise 'political' attack are major concerns.

[RightWhale]

Time to start drilling in ANWR

55.17 and holding. Alaska is the magic bullet. This is brought up in nearly every oil thread, but the numbers don't back up the hypothesis. Do you know why the State of Alaska is not agitating hard to drill ANWR but they did want Prudhoe Bay?

[biblewonk]

I consider myself to be an enviromentalist but not at all a liberal. I think waste is bad becasue the bible says so and I don't buy some of the lame statements people make to defend their SUV's. Excess is excess.

It will always be frustrating to do business with someone that is a sworn enemy. It is the same as the things our country has done to China even though we know that philosophically they are on the opposite end of the map. Buying oil from Arabs is just an unpleasant thing. I'm sure we get plenty from them.

[jmstein7]

No. Soros's speculators at work.

We were warned that he would try to pull something like this.

[Lord Nelson]

I do distinguish between environmentalists and conservationists. A conservationist is a positive thinker. Someone who is willing to look rationally at new ideas and new sources of energy. An environmentalist is a religious fanatic, worshiping mother earth.

Indeed, I believe there is a nobility to being careful with our money and resources. But I believe it should be the marketplace that regulates this. For example, water usage should be charged per cubic yard used. By using a flat fee we do not encourage good water management.

[biblewonk]

We get charged by the gallon here. It's 1/7th of a penny per gallon.

I think that a few more governmental controls to curb our energy waste would be a good thing. I don't believe the market should always dictate everything.

[Lord Nelson]

I guess this is where we disagree. Governments tend to actually encourage more waste. I don't believe they should legistlate my activity.

[Moonman62]

The AMEX is dominated by tobacco, metals, and oil. There's plenty of small caps in other indexes. How are they doing?

[biblewonk]

I guess this is where we disagree. Governments tend to actually encourage more waste. I don't believe they should legistlate my activity.

Most people seem to feel that way around here. A comparison to pure democracy can be made to pure capitalism. Pure capitalism doesn't really care about the future it is a pure consumer. It is a voracious consumer. Pure democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.