In reality, nothing more than speculation.
Cautious optimism is driving the stock market.

As my wife likes to say - money has a purpose and it has to be put to work, hence there will always be investment, both sound and foolish. Those that want it quick take the bigger gambles and that is why horse tracks are not going to know there is a recession.

The main problem with spikes in oil are that the full impact is always months away. 80% of all freight in this country moves by truck, so, if the increases continue, inflation is around the corner.

Better days are coming - as the old depression era cartoon caption said "throw another corn cob on the fire". (yes, they still make stoves to burn corn cobs, believe it or not)

Hm... There is what? Only three wars brewing this week?

i know one thing, you can either sit there and moan about oil going up, or you can invest in it. UGO would be your best bet.

If our beloved new president really wanted to do something to lower the price of oil he would stop these idiotic bush-era wars which must be consuming a hell of alot of fuel, AND he would propose legislation to serve as a
catalyst for conversion/addition of 18 wheelers to compressed natural gas. The main source of inflation is transportation costs of our goods. BTW: I am a royalty owner in southern oklahoma. I've got news for you people. You can't power 18 wheelers with electricity (no wind, no solar)......so giddyup let's go, either use the bathroom or get out off the 'reduce foreign dependency on fuel' pot. It is the only alternative RIGHT NOW. The money we have spent on TARP, etc. would have been enough to convert every US 18 wheeler and even produce some new ones. GEEZ. We have it here and we have enough for decades. We could even regulate it if need be.
What part of too easy is too easy. Our oil companies will still be fine with the rest of the world's oil consumption and most of them produce natgas anyway. Per Boone Pickens, that's 30% right there. Oh yeah I forgot......our lawmakers are so busy running domestic businesses into the ground they can't even comprehend that it would stimulate a whole plethora of American jobs.

My research tells me that Oil at $66.00 and inching up is not only as as result of geopolitical situations across oil producing countries but also as a perception the coming flight from the dollar, the world reserve currency.
I feel that once shit hits the fan, there will stampede away from the dollar to safer commodities. Oil will be a prime beneficiary and it will rise correspondingly.
A
Oil at $66.00, I think is a steal especially with a good options strategy.

There is no reliable substitute for the dollar for the long run. Attempts to substitute currencies of other countries or the Euro for oil will ultimately fail.

Let's face it. The American dollar has been and will continue for the forseable future to be the 800lb gorrilla it's been for the last fifty years.

@ al

There is gold, there is silver...

I think The Apprentice is on the right track. Since dollar is dropping in value, you need more dollars to buy the same barrel of oil.

Oil prices are subject to move due to currency ups and down regardless of which currency you use. It just turns out that over the long run the dollar is the smart bet.

Gold? A quick calculation of how wildly the price of oil would fluctuate if the price of gold were used to value shows how ridiculous that suggestion is.

There is a real case to be made that the dollar is still the 800 pounds gorilla but for how long before other ferocious beasts starts taking pot shots at the greenback. This will not happen overnight, but the ball has been set in motion long before China recent attack on our fiscal policies.
The Euro might be a weak against the dollar but the birth of that currency was an unveiled attempt to weaken our currency. Then China current not so veiled attempts against the dollar should not be dismissed with a wave of hand.
Slow but stead attack against the greenback will in time resonate with investors and traders around the globe. Right now we are standing on a banana peel on one foot next to a grave.
The dollar will still be around but for how long? 10 years, 15 years, who knows?

I'm sure many in the world that hate us would love to replace the dollar with the Euro or some other currency but it doesn't make sense now. Years from now? Who knows?

Euro? Not a chance for a long time. With Europe facing much worse problems than us the Euro will fluctuate wildly for years. No stability there.

China? In spite of what you read about the economic might of China they are still just barely an emerging country with huge political problems ahead should the huge drop in their exports continue much longer. Why? Because with 1.5 or so billion tryilng to share less than 15% of our GDP which is spread amoungst only 300 million people there is no comparison between our economies.

The media would have you believe that China is overtaking the US but they are still a third world country by any reasonable standard. The one billion plus who live like stone age people and don't share in the wealth of those comparatively few affluent along the coast could topple this dictatorship at any time.

The average person doesn't have the kind of money it would take to invest in oil and profit heavily from it.

A person that does have enough money to invest in oil doesn't care about $6 a gallon gas or rising inflation. That person has more money than he would ever need.

If you want to profit from rising oil based on nothing, then you want to doom the majority of this country to poverty.

The statement of, "Don't whine about the price, invest in it", is perhaps the most moronic statement ever uttered in history. It is precisely what has caused our greed driven society to be one small step from total destruction. Some logic and reason must be brought back along with some sort of ethical standard. You may profit from the rise but it is unethical to do so. You are causing harm to others for the sake of profit.

Our economy truly can not function with oil above $40 a barrel. If you chart real inflation over the past 3 years it is close to 25%.