A lot of interesting economic news came out this week let’s take a quick look at some of the top stories:

Oil hit $139/barrel today due to political tensions, worries about the U.S. economy, the dollar losing ground against the Euro and the usual bag of demons that are pushing energy prices higher; the real driver was the concern that all of the aforementioned factors could push oil to $150/barrel by July. 

(From the BBC) “The price of oil has made a record jump to nearly $139 a barrel, amid reports it could reach $150 by July because of rising demand and political tension.

Crude oil in New York gained more than $10 to hit $138.54.

The spike in oil prices coincided with a dollar slump, plummeting share prices on Wall Street and US unemployment suffering its biggest rise in 20 years. ”

Oil continues to surge ahead and it seems like every little blip on the political radar, coupled with economic changes seems to put positive pricing pressures on oil. While this surge in prices may be temporary and it’s likely that prices could pull back if the political tensions die down, it doesn’t change the fact that the long-term trend is still going up.

Here is more in depth coverage of the increase in oil prices from the AP via NPR’s Marketplace program; you can get coverage from the actual radio show here.

A bad employment number came out that indicated the economy lost around 49,000 jobs last month, in a trend that is likely to exacerbate the housing problem.