On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:11:55 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

Hopefully, Wayne will respond on his own. For you:

"Oil prices jumped $2.00 a barrel today, on fears surrounding new violence
in XYZ country"

Explain the bias in that statement.

Oil prices are determined in an open auction market, no one "sets"
them. It's all supply and demand, just like the stock market.
Uncertainty in the middle east brings out the speculators who buy some
oil for future delivery on the hope that prices will rise even further
and they can resell their contract for a profit, not unlike buying a
house in a rising market in the hope you can resell quickly at a
profit. And just like the any other market, speculation on rising
prices drives things up even more until a bubble is created, or until
supply catches up with demand. The problem with the oil market is
that it takes years for new supply to be created, and increases in
demand by former third world countries have been out running supply
increases for a while now.

Not as exciting as some of the cockamamie conspiracy theories that get
launched at the barber shop or Joe's tavern, but that's pretty much
the way it works.