Stocks rise and fall, bonds can reach default status, and housing? Well, we know what can happen to home prices, at least cyclically. But oil knows only one direction: vertical. Or so it seems, lately.Oil closed Wednesday up $1.17 to $109.92, another record-high close, driven to new levels of the stratosphere by the falling dollar -- which hit a new record low of $1.55 versus the euro -- and continuing concern that the U.S. Federal Reserve's credit market infusions will not be enough to prevent the U.S. economy from tailspinning into a deep recession. Earlier in the session, oil traded at an all-time high of $110.20, breaching the $110 level for the first time.
The other major energy commodities also closed higher. Heating oil gained about 3 cents to $3.03 per gallon, unleaded gasoline rose 1 cent to $2.72 per gallon, and natural gas rose about 1 cent to $10.05 per million BTUs.
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