IMAGINE IF RATES WEREN'T USURIOUS?:

Oil dip gives stocks shot in the arm (ELLEN SIMON, 2/15/06, AP)

A drop in oil prices below $60 a barrel sent stocks soaring Tuesday, carrying the Dow Jones industrial average 136 points higher and past 11,000 for the first time in a month. A surge in retail sales added to the market's good mood. [...]

Crude oil futures fell amid expectations that a U.S. supply report today will show higher crude inventories. A barrel of light crude settled at $59.57 a barrel, down $1.67, in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Energy prices have been declining steeply. Gasoline futures have fallen roughly 22 percent in the last two weeks, while crude is down roughly 13 percent and natural gas prices are 50 percent lower than their mid-December peak, Sitko said.