What's up with oil prices?

What's up with oil prices?

What’s going on? Oil prices upwards of $85 per barrel and some experts predicting $100 per barrel by year’s end crazy but possibly true. So what’s fuelling (pardon the pun) the dramatic rise in oil prices? Possible conflict between Turkey and Kurds in northern Iraq and as of this evening Turkish soldiers were on the border ready to enter and ready to crush Kurdish rebels based there. The historical enmity between the two go back a century, with the Americans not understanding the feud they are worried that a possible incursion would wreck stability in northern Iraq. Also bear in mind a lot of oil production is also based in the north. It does not take much these days to spook the markets. A weak dollar, talk of under supply and OPEC knocking hopes of a production rise has seen prices surging. Putting it mildly “supply is not matching demand”. OPEC has suggested it may raise production by 500,000 per day from November but Saudi Arabia the cartel’s leader has remained silent whether to increase production further. So what does that mean for you and I, price increases at the pumps, energy bills going up in the future, sluggish consumer spending that means that 50 inch plasma you promised yourself isn’t happening for now as you now have the extra cost of fuel for transport and heating. The stores are filled with stock they can’t move despite great discounts. Remember I said a consumer led recession some weeks ago? Well I have not seen movement for me to change my mind. If you have not got rid of that gas guzzler or car-pooling or taking alternative transport now’s the time to do it, also hurricane season does not officially end until the end of November so storms are always possible.

Keep an eye on those commodity prices Gold, Silver and black gold are at historical high prices. I know of some financial experts who have bought gold and gold coins to add to portfolios. Here’s a heads up gold was trading at $758.96 per oz, and Silver £373.50 per oz, Brent crude $84.24 per barrel. You can do some homework and check the Chicago markets and see how prices are going for Corn (at a all time high)and other commodities. Don’t just listen to these so called experts on CNBC and other financial shows read for yourself and study the trends. Globally we are not in good shape once you hear that the IMF, World Bank and financial bodies are adjusting growth figures that mean maybe trouble ahead.

We have had it all this summer the sub-prime fallout, Northern Rock and now this. 60% of UK mortgage applications are rejected proof that lenders are tightening lending after years of reckless approvals. This rethink followed warnings from The Bank of England about lending money that buyers can’t repay. The tightening is taking buyers out of the market fuelling a slowdown in price growth.

Over the coming weeks I’ll look at the buy to rent market, US banks and job losses, Bernanke and the ailing dollar.UK housing market the bubble about to burst
Now music watch, check out “Porgy and Bess” the George Gershwin opera re-worked by Miles Davis and Gil Evans one of my all time favourite jazz albums. Lush orchestrations, a wide-range of material between exuberant swingers and tender ballads, and plenty of virtuoso playing by Davis. Any appreciation of Porgy and Bess would be sorely lacking without mentioning Evans’ recasting of “Gone, Gone, Gone” (itself a wonderful performance) into “Gone.” The tune is a showcase for drummer Philly Joe Jones, who performs some unbelievable drum fills in between statements by the orchestra. An alternate take of the tune was added to the 1997 CD reissue illustrating the perfection of Jones’ playing on the master version.
Porgy and Bess is just one of many great albums that Miles Davis recorded over his lifetime. It reaches a higher plateau than most, though, in its way that it can reach the listener on both a musical and emotional level. That the album is still able to do this after almost fifty years is a testament to the rare magic that occurred in a New York studio over four days in the summer of 1958.
Enjoy………

Track listing: The Buzzard Song; Bess, You Is My Woman Now; Gone; Gone, Gone, Gone; Summertime; Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess; Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus); Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil Crab; My Man's Gone Now; It Ain't Necessarily So; Here Come De Honey Man; I Loves You, Porgy; There's A Boat That's Leaving Soon For New York; I Loves You, Porgy (take 1, second version); Gone (take 4)
Personnel: Miles Davis - trumpet, flugelhorn with the Gil Evans Orchestra
Labels: What's up with oil prices? draft by E Money 10:09:00 PM Delete

1 – 1 of 1