<b>Oil Surges to End Quarter at Two-and-a-Half Year High on Conflict in Libya</b> By Margot Habiby - Mar 31, 2011 1:40 PM PT http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...rterly-increase-on-libyan-supply-concern.html Oil surged in New York to end the quarter at the highest price in two and a half years amid concern that the Libyan conflict will prolong production cuts. <b>Prices rose 2.4 percent after troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi retook control of the oil port of Ras Lanuf and were shelling Brega, another energy hub. </b> Libyan oil production dropped 72 percent in March to a 49-year low, according to a Bloomberg News survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. âEvents in the Middle East, particularly the fighting that continues to be going on in Libya, are providing support for the market,â said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. <b>âThe market seems to be searching for a catalyst to continue the rally. </b>â Crude for May delivery climbed $2.45 to $106.72 a barrel, the highest settlement since Sept. 26, 2008, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures surged 17 percent from January through March, the best quarter since the period ended in June 2009. <b>Oil rose 10 percent in March for a seventh straight monthly gain. Thatâs the longest consecutive number of increases </b>since the contract started trading in 1983. Whatever Libyan news there is, is in the market,â said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. <b>âWeâre now approaching the recent highs for this move. Letâs see if we can blow through $107 and head higher.â</b>
Libyan defections http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/world/africa/01libya.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1 ---- http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-april-1 (All times are local in Libya GMT+2) 9:35am Vehicles belonging to forces loyal toGaddafi explode after an air strike by coalition forces, along a road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah on March 20.
We have so many assets on the ground and the spoils are already carved up. I give give them less than a week to see to the end of what Reagan started 25 years ago.
Seems to be the only number out today - pretty big one though Friday, April 1, 2011 8:30 AM ET. Mar U.S. unemployment rate Non-Farm Payrolls (expected +201K; previous +192K) Unemployment Rate (expected 8.9%; previous 8.9%) Average Hourly Earnings (previous 22.87) Average Hourly Earnings Net Change (previous +0.01) Manufacturing Payrolls (previous +33K)