USA: Stocks fall on Wall Street, but oil soars hitting a record of nearly $118 a barrel

Record ID: 343554

  • Title: USA: Stocks fall on Wall Street, but oil soars hitting a record of nearly $118 a barrel
  • Date: 22nd April 2008
  • Summary: (BN16) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 21, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GAS STATION AND GAS PRICES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBERT SINCLAIR, AAA SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "We're right near $4.00 a gallon as a national average. Now in certain areas around the country, in bigger cities, it gets even higher, sometimes 15, 20, 25 cents per gallon. So $4.00 a gallon seems like
  • Embargoed: 7th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Economic News
  • Reuters ID: LVAEWX4PILPVJJMUSFRS0IZVC7PG
  • Story Text: The Dow and the S&P 500 ended lower on Monday (April 21) while crude oil hit record highs and sent U.S. gasoline prices soaring to nearly $4.00 a gallon on average.
    The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.34 points, or 0.19 percent, to 12,825.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2.16 points, or 0.16 percent, at 1,388.17. But the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 5.07 points, or
    21 percent, at 2,408.04.
    Crude oil prices hit a record high of nearly $118 a barrel on Monday as rebel attacks cut Nigerian supplies and a Scottish refinery strike threatened North Sea crude production.
    Oil prices have more than quadrupled since 2002 as supply struggles to keep pace with surging demand from emerging economies such as China.
    Americans are feeling the price at the pump where, according the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average price of gas is nearly $4.00 a gallon. AAA Spokesperson, Robert Sinclair said that that average will soon get even higher.

    "$4.00 a gallon seems like a foregone conclusion. How much it goes beyond that really depends on how much people keep investing in oil as a commodity, how much lower the dollar goes, and God forbid, a bad hurricane season. If we get another Katrina-like disaster this year, all bets are off; gasoline prices are going to go through the roof to levels that we've never seen before, nor imagined," said Sinclair.
    Further support for oils climb came as OPEC officials said the market had enough oil and that the producer group would not ramp up output to help bring down prices despite calls for more oil from some consumer nations.
    But President of Area International Trading, Ira Eckstein said that oil in the market is not the problem, it's the U.S. government's handling of the dollar.

    "I think if they went and strengthened up the dollar and they took some debt away from the dollar and they strengthened it against the euro and the pound, I think that's when you'll see oil go lower," said Eckstein.
    U.S. light crude settled up 79 cents at $117.48 a barrel, off the record high of $117.76 hit earlier. London Brent crude settled 51 cents higher at $114.43 a barrel after hitting an all-time peak of $114.86.
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