Replies to post #299121 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Dances-W-waves]

I have my own version.

http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/SC.web?c=$NASI,uu[s,a]dallyyay[de][pb10!b20][vc60][iLb14!La12,26,...

:o)

[marketmaven]

Oil Prices Rise for 4th Straight Day While LU Steals
Tuesday September 21, 3:31 pm ET
By Brad Foss, AP Business Writer
Oil Prices Head Higher for Fourth Day in a Row, Eclipsing $47 Per Barrel

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Oil prices bounded higher for the fourth day in a row Tuesday, with further declines in the nation's supply expected as petroleum producers disrupted by Hurricane Ivan continue to regroup. Light sweet crude for October delivery rose 65 cents to $47 per barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from an intraday high of $47.40. Some 8.5 million barrels of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico have been lost since the beginning of last week and daily output in the region remains 39 percent lower at about 1 million barrels per day, the federal Minerals Management Service said Tuesday.

However, nearly all platforms and rigs that had been evacuated have since been restaffed, the agency reported.
Delayed oil shipments have taken an additional toll on U.S. supplies, which normally grow this time of year as gasoline demand tapers off and refiners temporarily shut down to perform maintenance.

The Energy Department reported last week that commercially available oil supplies declined by about 7 million barrels. The agency makes its next report Wednesday and traders are anticipating another strong draw. "Expectations are for another big number this week," said Mario Chavez, vice president of global energy futures at ABN AMRO in New York.

While the supply dislocation caused by Hurricane Ivan is expected to be short-lived, analysts said the underlying tightness in global oil markets is not and that is why prices are rising on every apparent production or delivery snag.
"The problem with oil markets is structural," said Lawrence J. Goldstein, president of PIRA Energy Group in New York. One of the key issues is that the amount of excess production available worldwide is about 1 percent of total demand of about 82 million barrels a day, Goldstein said, leaving little breathing room in the event of a prolonged supply interruption. How about that Chinese spot bid??

As a result, energy traders have been quick to respond to any news that could potentially crimp the flow of oil, even for a short period of time. For example, the sabotage of Iraqi pipelines by insurgents has caused sporadic export problems and propped up world oil prices.

On Monday, prices rose after cash-strapped Russian oil giant Yukos said it would halt some oil exports to China because it could not afford to pay the transport expenses. Yukos, which must pay back taxes of $7 billion for 2000 and 2001, has unnerved markets all summer long with warnings that its production could suffer as a result of its financial troubles.
The actual amount of exports to be halted by Yukos is about 100,000 barrels per day, a small amount.

But until private and state-owned oil companies make the investments necessary to boost the world's production and refining capacity, Goldstein expects even minimal supply problems to send oil prices higher so long as demand keeps rising. On Aug. 19, crude futures closed at $48.70, the highest Nymex settlement price. When adjusting for inflation, today's prices are about $11 per below the level reached just before the first Gulf War.

CROOK NEWS: Lucent Technologies Cuts Health Benefits for More Retirees (while CEO Patty Russo Waltzes to the Bank)
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBAEY8HEZD.html
By Linda A. Johnson The Associated Press : Sep 21, 2004

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - For the second time in a year, telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies Inc. is reducing benefits promised to thousands of its retirees.
The Murray Hill-based company, which reported billions of dollars in losses during the telecommunications industry slump, notified employees by letter it will no longer provide free health insurance for dependents of management workers who retired on or after March 1, 1990, at a salary of $65,000 or more. Instead, those dependents will have to pay their own premiums.

Last September, Lucent announced identical cuts for managers who had retired during the same period but had a base salary of at least $87,000. That change took effect on Jan. 1. The latest cut affects the dependents of 5,400 management retirees, a total of 7,400 dependents - spouses, disabled children and children age 23 or younger living at home. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2005. The prior cutback affected about 9,000 dependents of 7,300 retirees.

"We're astounded that the Lucent executives would continue to take benefits away from dependents of retirees, since many retired based on Lucent's promise to provide health care benefits for them and their dependents," Ed Beltram, spokesman for the Lucent Retirees Organization, said Tuesday.

Lucent spokesman Bill Price said the company had no choice. "We have to ask for some cost sharing, as we did last year, with our retirees in order to remain competitive," he said, noting dependents could stay in the retirees' health plan by paying their own premiums. The premiums range from $220 per month to $386 per month, which Price said was about half the cost of comparable coverage elsewhere.

Management retirees' costs for dental coverage also are being increased, with premiums rising roughly one-third to $32 per month for single people and $85 a month for family coverage.
The new changes should save Lucent about $16 million annually, Price said. The prior cuts are saving about $75 million a year. About 40 percent of Lucent's roughly 50,000 management retirees - those who retired before March 1, 1990 - do not pay premiums toward their health insurance. The rest pay on average $90 per month, if single, and $226 per month if they have dependents, according to Price.

Two weeks ago, Lucent said it also would try to reduce future health care costs for its retired union workers when it begins negotiating a new contract with their unions. Bargaining is set to start in early October. Ken Raschke, president of the Lucent Retirees Organization, said it was hard to justify the cuts when Lucent's chief executive officer, Patricia Russo, received a total of $44 million in compensation in 2002 and 2003. Price said the compensation figure is deceptive because it is based on how Russo's stock options are valued. He said Russo's compensation for her first two years at the helm actually was $35.6 million and includes $18.2 million in hiring incentives to make up for money she lost by leaving Eastman Kodak to join Lucent. Also, he said, her stock options are worthless because the stock is trading for a lower price. In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Lucent shares were up 5 cents at $3.34.