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Oil Futures Jump on Dollar, Fed Forecast

NEW YORK -- Oil prices resumed their march toward $100 Tuesday, rising to records over $98 a barrel as futures drew strength from a declining dollar, news of refinery problems and speculation that the Federal Reserve will again cut interest rates, according to the Associated Press.
Heating oil futures also rose to new records. Gasoline prices, meanwhile, extended their decline at the pump.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 4:37 PM to Crude oil market | Permalink | Comments 0

Truck Rated Safe, With Asterisk

When the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced the latest list of what it considers the safest vehicles last week, there was a surprising newcomer: a pickup truck, according to the New York Times.

This is the first time a pickup has been on the list since the institute began giving out the Top Safety Pick designation two years ago. The institute had not tested pickups for side-impact protection until recently because it said it did not have the time. Now, pickups are undergoing the complete round of tests.

The newcomer is the Toyota Tundra, which beat its domestic competitors from Ford, Nissan and Dodge. The Chevrolet Silverado and a close relative, the GMC Sierra, were not among the vehicles tested.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:14 AM to Safety , Toyota | Permalink | Comments 0

Tata defends $2,500 car

MUMBAI, India -- Tata Motors' ultracheap car will be the least polluting vehicle on Indian roads, the company's chairman said Monday, refuting criticism that the $2,500 car would add to traffic chaos and carbon emissions, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Ratan Tata said his company will bring what is being billed as "the people's car" to market next year and its price of about 100,000 rupees would be on target, despite a sharp rise in costs for steel and other raw materials since the project was announced three years ago.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:12 AM to Environment | Permalink | Comments 0

Mortgage worries hurt GM stock

Shares of General Motors Corp. fell 8.5% Monday, their largest drop in two years, on fears that vehicle sales will drop next year and that the crisis in the home-mortgage market will spill into auto-loans financing arms at both GM and Ford, according to the Detroit Free Press.

"From retail to autos, there's a significant amount of uncertainty with respect to health of the American consumer in the face of high energy costs and this lingering effect of the subprime mortgage market," said David Sowerby, portfolio manager at Bloomfield Hills-based Loomis Sayles & Co.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:10 AM to GM | Permalink | Comments 0

Court rebukes Bush fuel economy plan

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has sharply rejected the Bush administration's new pollution standards for most sport-utility vehicles, pickups and vans and ordered regulators to draft a new plan that's tougher on auto emissions, according to USA Today.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration failed to address why the so-called light trucks are allowed to pollute more than passenger cars and didn't properly assess greenhouse gas emissions when it set new minimum miles-per-gallon requirements for models in 2008 to 2011.

The court also said the administration failed to include in the new rules heavier trucks driven as commuter vehicles, among several other deficiencies found.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:07 AM to Fuel economy | Permalink | Comments 0

Oil Prices Rise Above $95 a Barrel

Oil prices recovered Tuesday from an early dip as the U.S. dollar hit a new low against the euro, making oil futures attractive to investors using other currencies, according to the Associated Press.

The euro has been climbing steadily against the dollar since August amid fears for the health of the U.S. economy, stoked by the subprime credit crisis.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 95 cents to $95.59 a barrel in electronic trading by mid-afternoon in Europe.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:05 AM to Crude oil market | Permalink | Comments 0