Oil falls below $86 amid weak US economy signs

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By ALEX KENNEDY

SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil fell below $86 a barrel Thursday in Asia as further evidence of weak U.S. economic growth undermined the 19 percent gain in crude prices over the past two weeks.

Benchmark crude for November delivery was down 54 cents at $85.57 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract, which expires later Thursday, fell $2.23 to settle at $86.11 in New York on Wednesday.

Brent crude for December delivery was down 5 cents at $108.34 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

Crude rose above $89 early in U.S. trading Wednesday, but reversed sharply amid concern the U.S. economy remains wobbly. The Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" showed only a slight increase in consumer spending last month while the economy expanded modestly in the Fed's 12 bank regions.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20111020/D9QFU1J00.html

[McCamy Taylor]

1. So, when do gas prices fall? That's right. When hell freezes over.

[Marblehead]

2. gas prices keep going up

win win for big oil...

[Aerows]

4. Crude prices go up

and immediately gas prices go up. Crude prices go down, and the explanation for gas prices not going down is because they are using oil that was bought when the prices were still high.

[hugo_from_TN]

11. Gas prices track crude oil prices

http://gasbuddy.com/Crude_Chart.aspx

[BumRushDaShow]

3. It should be no more than $30/bbl. n/t

[NickB79]

7. How do you figure?

The world's economies are now back to using as much oil per day as before the Recession set in 4 years ago, and we've seen global oil demand increase by 20 million barrels per day in the past 15 years largely from growth of developing nations.

Add to that the fact that, as we deplete our cheap to develop oil fields, we're replacing that lost output with oil from expensive tar sand or offshore drilling locations.

[AldebTX]

5. It's the Special Winter Blends for Smog Control

They cost more to produce......(sarcasm)

[bhikkhu]

6. "speculators drive down oil"

...is what it might say, as expectations of lower demand lead to expectations of lower prices, and current gambling on future prices is what speculation is. Hardly worth saying (and I'm not sure there is a point to saying it) but we do get it both ways.

[hamerfan]

8. $3.33/gallon

for regular unleaded in Kansas City today.

[groundloop]

9. Oh...... I gues this explains why gas prices went up here today....

:sarcasm:



I see nothing but price gouging and game playing to maximize profits at the expense of all the rest of us.

[Amonester]

10. Maybe big oil CEOs 'anticipate' cuts in their corporate welfare checks

coming up, but doubt it...