| Meeting demand for oil-pricing answers
Stephen Schork, a former New York commodities trader who lives in Villanova, is attracting a lot of attention with his three-year-old newsletter that analyzes the wild changes in oil prices. Only about 100 people have agreed to pay the upwards of $10,500 that he charges for a one-year subscription. He shows up regularly in newspapers and on national television as reporters seek help in making sense of this crucial and volatile commodity market. This exposure during the year when crude oil prices nearly doubled has produced "a ton of people on trial subscriptions," he said. Schork, 41, caught a wave when the collapse of Enron and other factors came together to drastically change the oil markets. In addition to supply-and-demand and what OPEC is thinking, people with oil-centered lives now "have to worry about what some 28-year-old hedge fund manager in Manhattan, with billions of dollars of other people's money, will do next," Schork said over coffee at the MilkBoy Cafe in Ardmore.
Oil price strikes record $US90
CRUDE oil prices struck a record $US90 a barrel in after-hours trading in New York overnight, amid increased tensions between Turkey's government and Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Traders said a weak US dollar and supply jitters had also stoked the price surge. The price gains came after New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, had jumped $US2.07 to a record close of $US89.47 a barrel. London prices also pushed higher in after-hours trading, as Brent North Sea crude for December delivery soared to $US84.88 after the contract had earlier settled $US1.47 higher at $US84.60. Oil prices have pushed higher this week amid geopolitical angst related to the Turkey-Iraq border and a weakening dollar, which makes dollar-priced commodities such as oil cheaper for buyers with stronger currencies and therefore lifts crude demand.
'MAD' JIM CRAMER LOSES GOLDEN $50K BET
The host of CNBC's "Mad Money" now owes $50,000 after losing one of the worst wagers of his entire career to rival trading wiz Eric Bolling. Cramer, who favors the phrase "Boo Ya," made an on-air bet with Bolling about a year ago that financial services would be the hottest sector of 2007. Bolling, a former trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange, placed his money on oil and gold. Investors who took Cramer's advice would have taken a 30 percent hit to their portfolios as the stocks of financial titans such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch got hammered by the mortgage crisis. On the other hand, investors savvy enough to follow Bolling's bet on gold and oil would have hit the jackpot, as the hot commodities jumped over 60 percent in the same period. Cramer, through a spokesman, blamed his loss on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's failure to cut interest rates more aggressively.
EC Report Spares Bulgaria, Romania
The final version of the report, which focuses on the Balkan hopefuls for EU membership and Turkey, however does not contain these remarks. The European Commission issued June 27 the progress report on the state of justice, corruption and organised crime in Bulgaria and Romania, warning them to step up their fight against corruption. The critical report gave the two newcomers another year to meet the basic EU membership rules and shore up reforms. The main accent in the report on Bulgaria was on the justice system, the fight against corruption and organized crime, but the EC also reviewed the situation regarding other areas of concern - agricultural funding, food safety and aviation safety. The Commission will review progress in these areas and report in early 2008.
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Gold and the Biflationary Depression
How can inflation and deflation happen at the same time? How can the money supply both shrink and increase, how can prices both rise and fall at the same time? It can, because each condition will occur in different segments of the economy. Let's first take a look at the current situation as it presents itself: Between A "Hard and A Soft Place" As everyone is sufficiently aware now, the US Fed is stuck. Fears of mounting consumer price inflation keep it from lowering the federal funds rate as desired, while recession fears keep it from raising the rate as needed. As a result, the Fed is faced with having to choose between a hard decision on the one hand and a soft economy on the other. As an economy goes into a recession and then into full-fledged deflationary depression, the usual view is that the price of gold will level out and then decline.
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