Find and Understand Oil Prices, Gold Values and DOW
58Crude Oil
What Does The Price Of Gold Have To Do With You?
The latest articles about the price of gold or oil assume one has a thorough understanding of the stock market. Let's make this a little easier, shall we? Here are some basic principles to understand in today's economy.
The price of gold is an important factor in economy because when the price goes up, the value of the dollar is worth less. So, this means it costs more to buy everything, including oil!
The following website shows plotted trends of the price of oil since 1968:
Gold In September 2008
As you see above, the price of Gold in September of 2008 started at around 820 at the beginning of the month, droppped to 740 by September 11th, then skyrocketed to 870 by September 19th. This means that at September 19th, the price of gold is up, the value of the dollar is less, and now oil (and other stuff) costs more.
What Is Crude Oil?
Crude oil is a naturally-occurring substance found in certain rock formations in the earth. It is a dark, sticky liquid which, scientifically speaking, is classified as a hydrocarbon. This means, it is a compound containing carbon and hydrogen, with or without non-metallic elements such as oxygen and sulfur. Crude oil is highly flammable and can be burned to create energy. Along with its sister hydrocarbon, natural gas, derivatives from crude oil make an excellent fuel. http://www.opec.org/library/FAQs/CrudeOil/q1.htm
Oil Prices Per Dollar
The picture above shows the oil prices per dollar. This information can be found at the link below, and it even includes overnight trading when NY is still asleep:
http://www.nymex.com/lsco_fut_cso.aspx
Again, when oil prices per dollar goes up, gas prices go up, it costs more money for groceries and goods, and it costs more to heat your home.
MSN DOW
The front page of MSN (http://www.msn.com/) shows the DOW industrial average. In general, when this goes up, people are happy because their investments (retirement and other) are doing well. If it goes down more than 20%, then we're typically in a "recession" and you'll also typically find higher unemployment.
It's important to understand where you can find this important information. The average person could then start to understand how current events effect the prices of everything. This could also tell you when it's a good time to buy that expensive item you've always wanted!
|
Stock Investing For Dummies
Price: $12.18
List Price: $21.99 |
|
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits
Price: $7.85
List Price: $15.00 |
|
The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing
Price: $10.88
List Price: $16.00 |
|
How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market
Price: $7.99
List Price: $7.99 |
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
Yes, it works sometimes. It's hard to tell what will happen these days, though. Many charts and trends seem to be failing.
FredrickBernanke says:
15 months ago
I like the charts.
Did you know there are many people and institutions that use charts, and only charts, to make their buy and sell decisions? It's called Technical Analysis, and those people believe that the chart itself can predict the future movement of the price of whatever is being charted: oil, gold, a specific stock, the Dow, etc.
And sometimes it works?