Oil prices fell below $69 a barrel on Tuesday as economic concerns sent investors into safer havens, outweighing positive U.S. manufacturing and home sales data.

U.S. crude for October delivery fell $1.39 to $68.57 a barrel by 1:32 p.m. EDT (1732 GMT).

London Brent crude dropped $1.38 to $68.27.

U.S. stocks dropped as investors’ confidence in the economic recovery wavered.

“The dollar is strengthening and equities are coming off hard so (oil futures) did the same,” said Tom Knight, trader at Truman Arnold in Texarkana, Texas.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar rose as the slide in the U.S. stocks boosted the currency’s safe-haven appeal.

Oil futures had risen earlier in the day as the market focused on a report showing a jump in U.S. manufacturing and pending home sales.

“It looks like the whole complex is failing to sustain the gains … basically, the market’s not done yet on the downside,” said Tom Bentz, senior commodity analyst, BNP Paribas Commodity

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Understanding Earnings Surprises: What to Look For & Their Meaning For Investors

by Marc Lichtenfeld, Advisory Panelist

There have been many earnings announcements lately that have surprised investors and analysts. And this has resulted in some significant gains in stock prices.

But don’t take these quarterly results at face value.

Earnings and guidance are very conservative this year, so it shouldn’t come as a shock when a company beats its projections. Just because a company like Caterpillar crushes its estimates, it doesn’t mean the business is humming along. It just means they beat the estimate.

That said, at a time like this, it’s important to figure out why the earnings come in better than expected. Were sales higher than forecasted? Did margins improve? Was it due to a lower tax rate? Lower general and administrative costs (layoffs)?

There are a number of reasons why a company might spring a surprise. Let’s take a look

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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) may impose stricter limits on commodities speculators who are believed to be behind the main force behind wild swings in the futures markets over the past two years. The investigation has the support of politicians seeking greater price stability for the global economy and consumers, but traders argue that such restrictions will only reduce market liquidity and not necessarily prices.

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said his agency will hold a series of hearings from July through August to determine whether or not it should place new limits on energy futures contracts.

Right now, the CFTC sets limits on the amount of futures contracts in some agricultural products that can be held by market participants. But futures exchanges are free to determine what, if any, position limits should exist for energy futures.

The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) currently restricts oil traders to 10,000 net futures

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651K jobs lost in Feb…  Dec. and Jan Job losses revised up…  Talking Norway, Canada, Australia… Brazil stealthlike for 3 months… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Well… Our Fantastico Friday was interrupted by that horrific Jobs Jamboree number that printed Friday morning… 651K jobs were lost in February, which let me remind you is a couple of days shorter than other months. So, it could have been worse! Hard to believe that could be the case, but it’s true. The unemployment

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In the energy market on Wednesday, crude for April delivery gained $2.54 to close at $42.50/barrel. March reformulated gasoline rose 8.23 cents, to $1.1660/gallon.

Oil was rising on growth in gasoline demand, though the weak home-sales data are “weighing on the psyche of oil traders,” said Phil Flynn, vice president at Alaron Trading. Oil prices were trading lower earlier after data showed sales of pre-owned U.S. homes dropped to the lowest level in 12 years.

U.S. gasoline consumption during the past four weeks rose 1.7% from a year ago, the Energy Information Administration reported. Gasoline inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels, more than analysts surveyed by Platts had expected.

On the supply side of the oil equation, the EIA reported yesterday that U.S. crude inventories rose by 700,000 barrels to 351.3 million. Analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a rise of more than 2 million barrels. The EIA also said in the report

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In the energy market on Monday, crude for April delivery arrived as front-month contract by falling off to close at $38.44/barrel, down $1.59. March reformulated gasoline dropped 2 2/3 cents, to $1.0433/gallon.

Oil traders were seen as voting no confidence in the government’s ability to shore up the banking system and get the economy rolling again.

The trading in oil has been mimicking stocks in the past few sessions, as economic concerns weighed on both markets, said Burton Schlichter, trade director at New World Trading.

Edward Meir, of MF Global (NYSE:MF), wrote that oil could trade in a broad range — between $32 and $50 a barrel — in the coming weeks. “The upside remains sticky above $50 given the dreary macro situation, while the downside will be kept in check by OPEC’s ongoing efforts to cut production,” Meir said.

Source: New Crude Contract Slides

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pNo sooner do I say that gold may go lower (and the U.S. dollar higher) than gold ramps up again and the greenback stumbles badly. Sigh. Well, my longer-term (and bigger) bets are on the right side.br /br /Here is news I'm reading ...br /br /a class=summheadline href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601083amp;sid=aOsLprMIpWycamp;refer=currencystrongDollar Falls From Three-Week High Versus Euro as ADP Says Job Cuts Rose /strong/aThe dollar fell from a more-than three-week high against the euro after a private report showed U.S. job market deteriorated last month, reinforcing expectations for a long recession. br /br /XX Sean's note -- does the ADP news surprise anybody? Yes, the loss of 693,000 jobs was a href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087amp;sid=axprAUuvIM3Aamp;refer=worldwidestronghigher than analysts' expectations /strong/aof a loss of 495,000 jobs. But everyone I talked to thought the real number would be higher than estimates. So again, who is surprised? br /br /a href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087amp;sid=ahkU9Lg5fzoAamp;refer=homestrongOil Traders Seek Another 10 Supertankers for Storage/strong/a br /Frontline ...

OPEC cuts 2.2 million bpd of crude output… Dealers say record cut not enough to offset demand slide

Oil prices dropped 3 percent on Wednesday after OPEC announced a record supply cut that dealers said may fail to offset slumping world energy demand.

U.S. crude oil prices fell $1.40 to $42.20 a barrel by 1:35 p.m. EST (1835 GMT), after dipping to a more than four year low of $40.20 earlier in the trading session. London Brent rose 66 cents to $47.31 per barrel.

Oil prices have fallen more than $100 since July as a global financial crisis cuts into consumer and industrial fuel demand, and top forecasters are now predicting the first decline in world energy use since 1983.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, eager to push prices back up, announced on Wednesday an agreement to cut 2.2 million barrels per

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Key News• The Japanese economy entered its first recession in seven years, as growth declined for the second quarter running by a wider margin than expected, raising fears the situation could deteriorate amid the global downturn. (FT)• Mining companies -- which couldn't dig minerals out of the earth fast enough just a few months ago -- now are struggling to climb out of a very deep hole. On Friday, the world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton, said major Chinese customers are trying to delay purchases of iron ore as China's building boom slows sharply. (WSJ)• Australian retail sales rose in the third quarter by less than economists forecast. (Bloomberg)• Key Reports (WSJ):8:30a.m. Nov NY Fed Manufacturing Index: Expected: -27. Previous: -24.6. 9:15a.m. Sep Industrial Production: Expected: +0.4%. Previous: -2.8%. 9:15a.m. Sep Capacity Utilization: Expected: 76.7. Previous: 76.4.

Quotable “It is fascinating to watch politicians come up with

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-- After a week of grim news, could Friday provide a happy ending to the week? Some in Washington certainly hope so. According to the WSJ, the bailout bill "appeared to gather momentum in the House of Representatives" after the strong bipartisan showing in the Senate.

-- US stock futures reflect the brighter mood on Capitol Hill. "S&P 500 futures rose 9 points to 1,133.40 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 10.25 points to 1,520.75. Dow industrial futures rose 73 points," according to MarketWatch.