January 3, 2005
...AND LOWER... (via Bryan Francoeur):
Oil sinks nearly 4 percentJanuary 3, 2005, CNN/Money)
Oil prices tumbled Monday as forecasts for more
mild weather in the Northeast led traders to believe demand for heating
oil would fall sharply in coming weeks.U.S. light crude for February delivery sank $1.65 to $41.80 a barrel on
the New York Mercantile Exchange, a drop of about 3.8 percent.
Delta reportedly about to slash fares (Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 3, 2005)
Delta Air Lines Inc. will slash fares by as much as 60 percent in a bid by the struggling carrier to lure back fliers, according to published reports. Its shares were up about 1.6 percent in afternoon trading Monday.Delta wouldn't confirm or refute a report in Time magazine that it plans to replicate nationwide its fare-cutting plan that it began testing last August in Cincinnati when domestic flight fares were capped at $499 for economy seats and $599 for first-class seats.
The magazine and The Wall Street Journal, both citing unnamed sources, said the nation's third-biggest airline would roll out a new, simpler pricing structure and eliminate some unpopular requirements, such as Saturday-stay rules. The airline also plans to cut ticket-change fees from $100 to $50, Time said.
Strange thing about the falling dollar--I keep being able to buy more and more with it... Posted by Orrin Judd at January 3, 2005 4:03 PM
Agreed OJ.
I keep saying the same thing. If we had cost-push inflation in the economy, if the rise in oil prices had led to a dramatic inflation across the economy, if interest rates were at Carteresque levels, I'd be worried. None of those things have occured.
Posted by: Bart at January 3, 2005 6:13 PMThanks to the either irrational and/or artificial inflation of oil and natural gas prices prior to the election, the side effect has been the inability to do the normal January stories in the media about soaring natural gas and heating oil prices, which under the current administration would be the jumping off point for a new round of "Bush wants people to freeze" stories.
Some hint of those stories will still show up the first time it gets really cold in Washington and New York, but it's going to be tough for the TV networks to use any accompanying graphics if they're showing a four month downward trend in fuel prices.
Posted by: John at January 4, 2005 2:22 AM