AT THIS RATE THEY'LL HAVE TO PAY US TO TAKE THE STUFF OFF THEIR HANDS:

Oil price slide fuels stock market (MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, December 2, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times)

A steep drop in oil prices gave Wall Street a big rally Wednesday, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 160 points and giving the major indexes one of their best days of 2004.

The buying took off immediately after the Energy Department reported an increase in distillate reserves -- heating oil and other derivative products -- of 2.3 million barrels, far higher than Wall Street expected. Gasoline and crude inventories also rose substantially.

That triggered the largest single-day decline in crude oil futures in more than three years. The price of a barrel of light crude plummeted $3.64 to settle at $45.49, its lowest level since Sept. 16, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Stocks climbed steadily through the session as oil prices tumbled.

"Oil futures go down, stocks go up. I think that'll be a pattern for a long time, and the good news is that if we keep getting inventory reports like this, oil prices will be ready for a big correction downward," said Brian Belski, market strategist at Piper Jaffray. "Overall, this market has clearly turned to a growth mode over the past few months, and should continue to grow."

So, if oil is denominated in dollars, which we all know are only worth slightly more than Confederate specie at this point, how much has the price truly dropped? About 102%?

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 2, 2004 10:34 AM