This June, Houston was the most economically attractive place in the country. That was when oil was climbing to its peak of $147 a barrel. Back in those glory days for the offshore oil patch, 81% of oil trading was conducted by speculators who were long oil and short the dollar. But that trade has lost its appeal and now Houston is suffering the effects of a 56% drop in price as the dollar booms 25%.

With the 40% decline in stocks this year and a financial crisis upon us, it looks like New York and Houston -- two cities which are culturally apart -- will both be suffering but for different reasons. Houston is going to suffer due to an expected oil demand slowdown. Despite OPEC's decision to cut its production quotas by 1.5 million barrels a day, crude still dropped $3.39 to close at $64.15 on Friday. Since oil trades in dollars and the world is buying up our Treasury bills due to a belief that the U.S. is a safe haven, the dollar is rising which means it takes fewer of them to buy a barrel of oil.

But despite an apparent slowdown driven by the economic crunch, official forecasts still forecast growth in demand -- albeit at a slower rate. For example, Paris's International Energy Agency (IEA) now predicts global oil demand will average 86.5 million barrels a day this year, up about 440,000 barrels a day from 2007 -- it previously forecast 940,000 barrels a day. This is making Houston's energy sector nervous. Why? The IEA reported that some analysts expect a big proportion of "global drilling rig orders will be canceled."

Continue reading How Houston and New York will take the burn for oil's plunge

How Houston and New York will take the burn for oil's plunge originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

24//7 Wall St. editor Jon Ogg is sending reports from his home near downtown Houston. His location has been under assault from winds that are probably well in excess of 80 mph. He says, via text and cell-phone, that it appears most of the power in the city is out and that the downtown will probably be under the current, violent assault for another four or five hours.

To Ogg's south all refineries close to the city have been closed. According to Reuters, "oil companies shut down about 25 percent of the nation's crude oil production and nearly 22 percent of its refined fuel production as a precaution."

Aside from the local damage and loss of lives in south Texas, the storm is already driving up gas prices. In some areas in and around the southwest a gallon of gasoline is selling for $6.

If Gulf refineries are closed for several weeks due to Ike, drivers in most of the country could be paying $5 a gallon at by the end of next week.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Live report from BloggingStocks in Houston: Storm could not be much worse originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It seems Chicago, home of Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower, has hired a marketing firm to explore the potential of offering naming rights to public property, programs, and other assets as a way of raising revenue. The city hopes to begin attracting corporate sponsors as soon as next spring. Any proposed sponsorship will have to be approved by an advisory committee made up of civic leaders, whose job it will be to ensure the integrity of the city's brand image.

Chicago isn't the only city to consider offering naming rights. New York has partnerships with Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), and Pepsico (NYSE: PEP), and the Las Vegas monorail is sponsored by Nextel (NYSE: S). Winnipeg, Calgary, and Toronto also have similar programs.

Chicago is no stranger to naming rights issues. The city has already attempted to sell naming rights to the Chicago Skyway, which links the city to the Indiana Tollway. Many White Sox fans decried the name change of New Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field, and an attempt to sell the name of Solider Field ultimately went nowhere. Many Windy City shoppers still haven't forgiven Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) for changing the name of State Street institution, Marshall Fields.

But Chicago hasn't yet found itself in the embarrassing situation that Houston did after the naming of Enron Field. I wonder if there was an advisory committee to protect the integrity of Houston's brand image?

Chicago to offer naming rights: Will it become the Wendy's City? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading A little relief at the pump

A little relief at the pump originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New Houston Apple store to open this weekend originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.