haha.. I thought I was the only one that realized that GOOG gaps up every day.... was automatic $$ buy GOOG at close, sell premarket for free $$ now it started gapping down..lol
Oil hits $76 as Mideast violence escalates By BRAD FOSS, AP Business Writer 24 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Oil prices hit a new high above $76 a barrel Thursday in a market agitated by escalating violence in the Middle East, the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program and news of explosions on Nigerian pipelines. "The oil price has become a register of geopolitical tensions and fears," said Daniel Yergin, who heads Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Yergin said the supply-demand fundamentals are improving, with global oil inventories and spare oil-production capacity rising, but clearly not enough to offset the geopolitical unrest. Light, sweet crude for August delivery shot up $1.30 to $76.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, surpassing the previous high of $75.78 set during trading last Friday. The surge in oil prices rattled stock market investors, sending the Dow Jones industrials sharply lower for the second straight day. Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, slumped 3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange on concerns that high energy prices are cutting into consumers' discretionary income. "The economy took $50 oil in stride," Yergin said. "It's clearly not taking $70 or $75 a barrel in stride. This is a rougher adjustment." Israeli warplanes blasted runways at the main army air base in eastern Lebanon near Syria's border Thursday, police said, an attack that could draw the Lebanese army into Israel's conflict with Hezbollah guerrillas. Earlier, Israeli warplanes struck the runways of Beirut's international airport as part of a campaign against Hezbollah, which attacked Israeli border positions Wednesday and captured two soldiers. Adding to market tensions was news that Iran, OPEC's No. 2 supplier, was referred back to the U.N. Security Council Wednesday after nuclear talks failed to yield agreements. In Nigeria, officials said twin explosions hit oil installations belonging to oil company Agip, a unit of Italy's Eni SpA, in the volatile southeastern delta region. Officials suspected sabotage in the explosions Wednesday along two pipelines in Baleysa state. Nigerian officials said the oil installations belonged to Italian oil giant Agip. But in Rome, Agip's parent company Eni SpA's Agip Oil Co. issued a statement denying a report that the blasts had caused a loss of 120,000 barrels of oil a day. Elsewhere, militants attacked a boat carrying supplies to Chevron Corp.'s offshore Escravos oilfields on Wednesday, sparking a gunbattle that left four Nigerian navy sailors dead, Brig. Gen. Alfred Ilogho said Thursday. Front-month August Brent on London's ICE Futures exchange hit a high, climbing to $75.60 before easing back a bit to $75.53 a barrel, up $1.14. "With little prospect of any good news on Nigeria, Iran and global demand any time soon, the risks remain on the upside and the prospect of a move to, and through, $80 per barrel must be very real, very soon," said Paul J. Harris, head of energy and emissions at Bank of Ireland Global Markets in Dublin, Ireland. The hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico could be a catalyst for even more price spikes, Harris said. Heating oil rose more than 3 cents to $2.0527 a gallon; gasoline futures rose more than 3 cents to $2.29 a gallon, and natural gas futures gained 10 cents to $5.880 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The almighty GOOG is now under $380. One by one, the leaders are slowly falling by the wayside. Care to guess what will happen if the Fed raises again in August?