Best wishes to all and, next to world peace among people, we should hope for the same among world markets.

I have let some time pass before commenting on a recent example of how fragile a world we live in. This past year through a time of greater economic danger, fear and volatility than most of us has experienced in a life time, many people cannot fathom how close we came to the edge of Hades.

Oil prices have been on the rise today, following a government report that showed inventories fell more than expected last week.

Going into today's inventory report, analysts had been expecting to hear that oil inventories shrank by around 2 million barrels last week, but according the the Department of Energy the actual draw was much steeper at 3.7 million barrels.

U.S. stock futures were higher Monday morning after Abu Dhabi came to the rescue of Dubai with a $10 billion bailout on a day some debt was to expire. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Citigroup announced it will repay its bailout funds.

Stocks are poised to build on Friday's momentum -- blue chip stocks finished on a positive note following better-than-expected reports on retail sales and consumer sentiment. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was marginally lower.

The Dubai crisis is not going away. Government owned Dubai World has scheduled a meeting with creditors to discuss the possible settlements.

What is most troubling is that the government of Dubai has refused to guarantee Dubai World's debt. That creates an international situation. While it has not been confirmed, it is believed that Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and local lenders Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank are key creditors.

It seems like almost every day Iran is in the news, and today is no different. Oil prices have moved higher after reports that Iranian naval vessels had stopped a racing yacht with 5 U.K. nationals aboard.

Oil is up $1.30 a barrel to $77.35, and traded up as high as $78.00 earlier in the day.

U.S. stock futures declined Monday morning with Wall Street keeping its attention on the unfolding debt situation in Dubai and on retail, with early results from the holiday shopping season beginning to emerge.

[Update: Futures turned direction and are now pointing to a higher start on Wall Street as investors were somewhat encouraged by the United Arab Emirate's central bank saying it would guarantee Dubai's World debt, and by the modest increase seen in holiday sales this season.]

In a shortened session on Friday, just as U.S. shoppers went scouring for Black Friday deals, U.S. markets sharply retreated, finishing the week with losses. Wall Street thus joined the decline in world markets, fueled by fears that Dubai World could default on $60 billion in debt. Global investors worried this could be a symptom of broader financial instability elsewhere in a still fragile world economy.

You can tell the oil market's in rough shape when companies are drilling more to pull in smaller profits. This is the situation in which Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) finds itself, with lower energy prices pushing down the cash that comes through the door.

So, its revenue was up for the most recent quarter, but earnings were down. The $262 million that came to the bottom line is 61% lower than the profit for the same quarter the year before.

Oil prices dropped a bit today, as investors weigh news that consumer confidence took a hit in September.

Today's move was not a sizable one, but further evidence that investors are concerned over just how strong the current economic recovery really is. News came out today that consumer confidence is down in September as more Americans are concerned over the weak job market.

The oil industry has been working hard to find new oil reserves, and so far this year the efforts have been paying off.

It has been a year with some major discoveries that have put the oil industry in a good position to make it the year with the highest level of new discoveries since 2000.

A big reason for the increase in discoveries is improvements in technology that has allowed oil hunters to drill deeper and break through tougher rocks than they were previously able to do.

Traders are selling oil off today after a government report that showed inventories rose last week.

Going into this week's inventory report from the Energy Information Administration, analysts had been expecting to see oil inventory drop by around 2.25 million barrels. What today's report actually showed though was an increase last week by 2.8 million barrels.

Higher fuel prices and slipping demand for air travel have prompted a change. The International Air Transport Association revised its forecast of global airline losses for the year from $9 billion to $11 billion. Revenues for the air travel industry are expected to fall 15% to $455 billion worldwide. Passenger traffic is anticipated to fall by 4%, with cargo dropping 14% for the year.

Financially, IATA CEO Giovanni Bisignani says the impact of the financial crisis has been more severe than the terror attacks of eight years ago.

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are investment funds for government money. Essentially, these are for countries that get huge amounts of capital surpluses, such as China.

Interestingly enough, SWFs are running into some problems as asset values have fallen across the globe. A report from the Monitor Company Group indicates that these funds suffered losses of roughly $67 billion in the past year.

At the same time, there has been a reduction in capital infusions, primarily because of the drop in oil prices.

Oil traders have been flocking into the precious crude today as the U.S. dollar fell to a new yearly low against the euro.

Oil prices have passed through the psychological $70 barrier, and continued to move higher, currently trading up $3.12 on the day to $71.14. Oil is not the only commodity that has been moving higher, as gold prices moved through the $1,000 mark for the first time since this past February.

Oil traders have been selling off the precious crude Monday, as a steep sell-off of China's benchmark index raised concerns over the current state of both the Chinese and U.S. economies.

The Chinese Shanghai Composite Index took a beating to start off the week, trading down 6.74%, and raised fresh concerns over a global economic rebound. Today's sell off in the Chinese market was its biggest decline since June of 2008. The sell-off comes on the heels of a near 3% drop in the index last Friday.

Oil prices dropped a bit today, after a government report showed that inventories unexpectedly rose last week.

According to today's report from the Commerce Department, oil inventories rose by 200,000 barrels last week. Going into today's report analysts had forecast a 1.1 million barrel drop in supplies.