The gang at GOP BLOGGERS [1]predicted on Wed that oil prices would drop… based on the idea that the IMF is predicting that they’d rise.
Well, Guess what? AP reports today that [2]
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.23, essentially flat, at 10,470.74.
The broader gauges were also narrowly higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 2.01, or 0.17 percent, at 1,173.72. The Nasdaq composite index added 4.61, or 0.23 percent, to 1,993.95, largely on strength in the chip industry; the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was up 1.41 percent.
Oil dropped $2.53 to $53.50 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as a weekly government report showed a larger than expected build in crude supplies. Gold prices also fell, and the U.S. dollar rose sharply against other major currencies following Tuesday’s decision by the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates by another quarter-point to 2.75 percent. Bonds were mixed, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury declining to 4.61 percent, from 4.63 percent late Tuesday.