The Nikkei 225 had a positive week, up a modest 1% to 14,489.44, its highest close since early January, but fell short of its calendar year high of 14,691. Remember, keeping things in perspective is important because the N225 opened the year at 15,155 and was trading 18,000-plus last year. In spite of recent resiliency in Japanese equities, it looks like this week will be a tough one, starting with a big gap down on Monday and external factors as well as domestic economic data all putting potential downward pressure on stocks. First, weak jobs data in the U.S. on Friday and an unprecedented two-day jump in oil futures sent U.S. stocks sharply lower. Nikkei 225 futures in Chicago lost 510 points to settle at ...

Article Source Following up on this post from October 2006, when oil was only $58.88 (WTI,daily average) a barrel, consider this excerpt from today's Thomas Net: The impact of rising transportation costs, driven significantly by high oil prices, is already being seen in capital-intensive manufacturing that carry a high ratio of freight costs to the final sale price. But a new report has determined that higher energy prices are affecting transport costs at such an unprecedented rate that "the cost of moving goods, not the cost of tariffs, is the largest barrier to global trade today." The CIBC report upon which this article is based focuses on ship transport. One interesting tidbit: The cost of shipping a standard 40-foot container from East Asia to the US eastern seaboard has already tripled since 2000 and will double again as oil prices head towards $200 per barrel... The note discusses how the decreasing in tradability of ...