Hugh Johnson Oil Quotations

The market is asking the question, given oil prices, given rates, given China's economy and other things, what does it look like for the economy and corporate profits in the fourth quarter and in 2005? The message we got last week was that it's probably not going to be as great as everybody once expected, but it will still be just fine.

As long as the price of oil remains above $65 a barrel, investors are going to be very guarded and volume low.

Hardware, software and semiconductors are the three top-performing groups right now, and there has been a decline in oil prices. These things are pushing the markets up.

The combination of a decline in oil prices, however slight, and some fairly upbeat comments (by Fed officials), may have led Fed watchers to conclude the Fed may raise interest rates at its meeting in May, and then stop.

The price is down some, but it's clear that oil is at a level that raises serious questions about the U.S. economy and earnings going forward.

It's not good news, ... Even though the focus is on the Middle East and oil prices, these numbers clearly are not going to stabilize the markets.

Ordinarily you would expect the stock market to rise or do better, but it's not, and I think the reason it's not is it's being held in check by high oil prices.

The election is another element of ambiguity, ... and oil remains the crucial variable.

Shell Oil has made an offer to Barrett, ... I think they're going to have to make a higher offer to buy the company.

Today the market is pausing a bit, given the strong performance last week. There is lot of acquisition activity, which is giving the market some lift, particularly because oil prices are stable.

It seems so tied to the price of oil, that it's very hard to forecast what stocks will do next. On balance the message of the markets for the last nine trading sessions, including today, seems to have shifted to say that the price of oil is taking a chunk out of consumer spending.

The rise in oil prices and concern over the Fed's interest rate policy are very troubling to the market. That's going to present a challenge to this rally.

Investors become very guarded at the point that they think oil prices could take a chunk out of economic growth,