Oil falls after two sessions of gains… Israeli offensive goes into fourth day…  OPEC output set to fall further in December

Oil fell below $40 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured by gloom about prospects for world economic growth which outweighed heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

Prices had jumped as much as 12 percent on Monday after Israel launched its fiercest air offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip in decades.

U.S. crude was down 77 cents at $39.25 a barrel by 1151 GMT, having earlier touched a session high of $40.39.

London Brent fell 60 cents to $39.95.

“With most global economies struggling and credit markets still in an impaired state, it is hard to get too excited about the upside potential in energy markets attributable solely to geopolitical factors unless, of course, these are directed at the heart

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World stocks edge up… Crude oil falls, trades just above $51 a barrel… U.S. dollar firmer, U.S. bonds rise

U.S. stocks were mostly higher in thin trade on Friday, as investors eyed retail sales on the first day of the shopping season after the Thanksgiving Day holiday, to gauge the extent of weakening consumer demand.

European and Asian shares were also higher, despite the attacks in Mumbai, India, while U.S. Treasury debt prices and the U.S. dollar both gained as investors continued to look for safe-havens as global economic growth slows.

“It’s a light volume day so you’re going to see some choppy trading, with so many people out,” said Robert Finkel, consumer trader at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore of the U.S. stock market.

“I’m watching how things go from a retail standpoint today - we’ve heard a lot of speculation about how bad it’s going to

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Deflationary forces are pushing the price of gold lower. However, beyond the short-term price for paper gold, some of the news is surprisingly bullish. I'm putting out an update to my recent gold report today, with some very interesting news on supply and demand. The director of the World Gold Council was on CNBC yesterday talking about it. You can see that video here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=933064521 Some of the bullish news for gold ... * Global demand rose 18% to 1,133.4 metric tonnes from 963.3 tonnes a year earlier.* In dollar terms, the jump in demand was even bigger. Dollar demand for gold reached an all time quarterly record of $32 billion in the third quarter, a whopping 45% higher than the previous record … set in the second quarter.* Identifiable investment, which includes purchases through exchange-traded funds and of bars ...

The US government is bankrupting our economy by burning through hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in the form of bailouts to Paulson and Cheney cronies. American Express is getting bailout money? Seriously? American Express could vanish off the face of the Earth and we'd hardly notice. I think it telling though, that American Express' customers can't pay their bills.The government needs to focus on saving businesses that could still be saved and are worth saving. And Robert Reich has some choice words about the bailout ...When a big company that gets into trouble is more valuable living than dead, there used to be a well-established legal process for reorganizing it - called chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Under it, creditors took some losses, shareholders even bigger ones, some managers' heads rolled. Companies cleaned up their books and got a fresh start. And taxpayers didn't pay a penny.So why, exactly, is the ...

Commodities are getting clocked this morning. The catalyst is that Hurricane Gustav didn't harm the energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, but really, you have to give credit to a strong, resurgent US dollar.A HUGE pullback in oil today. It started in electronic trading in a week that is known for light trading volume, but you can't argue with this chart.Gold is following oil lower today, even though India, the world's biggest buyer of bullion, increased its August gold imports by 56%. What's the driver, then? The rising dollar! You can’t argue against the bullish action in the dollar.Here is other news you can use ...

ENERGY

Oil falls as global demand concerns re-emerge

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia -- $10 below its close Friday before the

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Commodities are getting clocked this morning. The catalyst is that Hurricane Gustav didn't harm the energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, but really, you have to give credit to a strong, resurgent US dollar.A HUGE pullback in oil today. It started in electronic trading in a week that is known for light trading volume, but you can't argue with this chart.Gold is following oil lower today, even though India, the world's biggest buyer of bullion, increased its August gold imports by 56%. What's the driver, then? The rising dollar! You can’t argue against the bullish action in the dollar.Here is other news you can use ...

ENERGY

Oil falls as global demand concerns re-emerge

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia -- $10 below its close Friday before the

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Key Points: Engineering and consulting firms are an alternative way to get exposure to the energy sector. A heavy reliance on revenues from oil companies provides upside, while a diversified list of customers in other industries lessens risk. Analysts have recently raised forecasts on several engineering and consulting firms

Last week, I discussed how the decline in oil prices was causing analysts to lower their forecasts on exploration and production (E&P) stocks.

An alternative for investors looking to keep some exposure to the energy sector are engineering and consulting firms. These are companies that provide maintenance, construction and project management services to the energy sector.

They are less sensitive to the price of oil than E&P companies, but still benefit from elevated oil prices.

The key for firms such as Fluor (FLR) and Jacobs Engineering (JEC) is that oil stays at a high enough level to justify spending

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Key Points: Engineering and consulting firms are an alternative way to get exposure to the energy sector. A heavy reliance on revenues from oil companies provides upside, while a diversified list of customers in other industries lessens risk. Analysts have recently raised forecasts on several engineering and consulting firms

Last week, I discussed how the decline in oil prices was causing analysts to lower their forecasts on exploration and production (E&P) stocks.

An alternative for investors looking to keep some exposure to the energy sector are engineering and consulting firms. These are companies that provide maintenance, construction and project management services to the energy sector.

They are less sensitive to the price of oil than E&P companies, but still benefit from elevated oil prices.

The key for firms such as Fluor (FLR) and Jacobs Engineering (JEC) is that oil stays at a high enough level to justify spending

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