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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: matt dillabough who wrote (14982)	5/16/2005 8:34:52 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Re: Similar rallies in stock prices in the semi equipment sector over the last 12 months have ended with sharp down drafts in stock prices. So their argument is they will continue to underperform for the next 12 months based upon this? IOW, all rallies are doomed to fail.

To: matt dillabough who wrote (14982)	5/16/2005 8:35:08 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Crude Oil Futures Continue to Slide Monday May 16, 7:31 am ET By Wee Sui Lee, Associated Press Writer Crude Oil Futures Continue Slide on Optimistic Supply Comment From OPEC's President SINGAPORE (AP) -- Crude oil futures declined Monday as traders continued to liquidate on optimistic supply comments from OPEC's president and expectations that prices would slip further away from the $50 threshold. Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who is also Kuwait's oil minister, said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' current output and spare production capacity will keep the market well supplied through the year. Some market-watchers had expressed concern about demand later this year, but Al Sabah said OPEC will pump 30.5 million barrels a day -- 300,000 to 500,000 barrels a day above current levels -- to meet its estimate for fourth-quarter demand. Light, sweet crude for June delivery fell 56 cents to $48.11 a barrel in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil prices fell nearly 2 cents to $1.3517 a gallon, while unleaded gas fell 2 cents to $1.39 a gallon. On London's International Petroleum Exchange, June Brent crude futures fell 59 cents to $48.07 per barrel. Last week, Nymex prices fell by more than $4 a barrel, weighed down by rising supplies in the United States and lower-than-expected demand in China. At their peak in early April, oil prices were close to 70 percent higher than a year earlier. Now they are about 18 percent higher than a year ago. "Certainly, the market sentiment seems to be on the bearish side now that the psychologically significant $50 mark has been breached," said oil analyst Victor Shum at Texas-based Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. Shum said current prices are typical of lower demand in the second quarter, just before the market starts building inventories when demand peaks due to the onset of the summer driving season and as refineries begin to ramp up production ahead of winter. Last Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Department said domestic crude inventories grew by 2.7 million barrels to 329.7 million barrels, or 10 percent above year-ago levels. Crude inventories have been building steadily for the past three months. The Paris-based International Energy Agency also said Wednesday that oil demand growth in China rose 4.5 percent in the first quarter, a sharp drop from the 19.3 percent year-on-year growth in the first three months of 2004. China is the world's second-largest consumer of crude behind the United States, and rapidly increasing demand there has been blamed for dwindling supplies. But analysts like Shum are wary that the bearish mood may not last in the long-term, as current low prices might prompt hedge fund traders to buy crude futures, increasing demand and pushing prices back up.