Business 2006-07-17

A wild week on Wall Street has come to an end. Oil prices continue to shatter records. Let's check in with Valerie Morris, she has the details on oil and how the markets fare today. Hi, Valerie.

Hi there, Marissa. You use the word "wild" that is really quite appropriate. Oil prices are closing at another record high, but this really isn't the kind of record that consumers or investors 1 like to see. Light sweet crude settled at $77.03 a barrel and it neared $78 at one point during the day. One trader says that this is the greatest risk the oil market has seen since the embargo 2 of the seventies. Now the reason: a combination of geopolitical tensions. The conflict between Israel and Lebanon has escalated 3. And even though neither country is an oil producer, they both lie in the heart of the Middle East which pumps nearly one-third of the world's oil. There's fear that the fighting could spread to Iran. And that's not all. Attacks on pipelines 4 in Nigeria, which is the world's eighth largest exporter, have ignited fresh supply concerns. And of course when the price of oil rises, the price of gasoline is sure to follow. Experts say for a, to look for a big jump at the pump over the next few days. Checking on the closing numbers on Wall Street, as you see a picture of the Big Board, the Dow Industrials are posting triple digit 5 losses for the third straight day, closing down 106 points. The Dow has lost a whopping 351 points this week alone and the NASDAQ Composite fell nearly one percent. Marissa?

Well, oil obviously has been the focus this week on Wall Street but we've also reached the start of yet another corporate 6 earning season, so any great reports to kind of propel the markets?

I hate to be disappointing on this one but unfortunately no good news there either. Eh, General Electric. General Electric, often considered as a proxy 7 for the whole market, posted a 4% increase in profits, now that was right in line with Wall Street estimates, but investors were still unimpressed. GE stock dropped nearly 2%, also wane 8, unexpected declines in retail 9 sales and consumer confidence that fueled worries of a slowing economy. Marissa.

So GE down, retail stocks down, but what about PETCO which jumped to what, more than 40 percent today. Great if you happen to hold that stock.

Absolutely, you know, this is the second biggest pet supply chain and it is bucking 10 the downward trend and they are doing it big time. PETCO agreed to be bought by a private investment group, in a deal that's worth 1.6 billion dollars. Shareholders 11 are getting a 45% premium 12 over yesterday's closing price. I think I should end on that good news, Marissa, that's a wrap-up (I think we should.) of today on Wall Street. Have a good weekend.

Thank you,you too ,we'll see you next week.

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shatter:to break something suddenly into a lot of small pieces 打破
fare:used for saying how well or how badly someone does something 进展
light sweet crude :轻低硫原油
geopolitical:地理政治学的
proxy:someone who has the authority to do something for you,especially to vote 代理人
wane:become weaker or less important 亏损,衰退