Oil $100

From the department of my-goodness-this-was-not-unexpected:

Oil vaulted to a record $US100 a barrel overnight as violence in Nigeria, tight energy stockpiles and a weaker dollar triggered a surge of speculative buying, dealers said.

Oil's climb to the psychologically key triple-digit price sent stocks tumbling on Wall Street and darkened an already gloomy economic outlook in the United States, battered by a housing crisis and credit crunch.

"Oil hitting $US100 a barrel has sparked some concerns about the consumer and inflation," said Todd Salamone, vice president of research at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

US crude traded once at $US100 a barrel, up $US4.02, then eased back to $US99. London Brent crude rose $US4.04 to $US97.89.

"Oil could rise further from here. It's simple supply and demand fundamentals," said Kris Voorspools, energy analyst at Fortis in Brussels.

Hudson was right. Game over man!