Oil down as inventories grow...
Via Bloomberg:
Stockpiles of crude oil last week were 1.4 percent above the five-year average for the period, the department said. Inventories were 1.8 percent lower than the average two weeks earlier, according to the department. Gasoline supplies were 4.2 percent above the average and distillate inventories were 0.1 percent below.Refineries operated at 84.3 percent of capacity, down 0.6 percentage point from the prior week, the report showed. It was the lowest rate since March 2006.
``The refinery numbers are the big story,'' said Brad Samples, commodity analyst for Summit Energy Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky. ``Refinery margins across the U.S. are really weak so refiners are reducing runs.''
Crude-oil imports jumped 4.6 percent to 10.5 million barrels a day, the highest since August, according to the report. Imports of petroleum products surged 26 percent to 4.22 million barrels a day, the highest since May.
Just a month ago, I was berated on lawschooldiscussion.org for arguing a recession was on the way. The 20-24 yr old crowd was truly in denial, possibly because their homes and jobs were not being foreclosed/downsided. What a difference a month makes.
