Oil prices baffle traders; soar 6 pct to end week
The government reported by midweek that oil inventories had soared,
suggesting a serious dent in demand; there were horrible housing and
jobless numbers Thursday and to end the week there was talk that OPEC
couldn't cut production fast enough. Over the same three days, oil
prices jumped 11 percent.
Traders searched for logic in a market that seemed to defy it, and by Friday had largely given up.
Light,
sweet crude for March delivery soared more than 6 percent Friday, or
$2.80, to settle at $46.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. In the volatile hours between market open and close, prices
swung as low as $41.40 and as high as $47.