OIL PRICE DROPS $3; GERMANS PAYING $8.00 PER GALLON FOR GAS

Crude oil prices dropped about $3.00 per barrel yesterday as the U.S. dollar strengthened a bit and traders waited to see what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates at their meeting later today. Most analysts believe that a quarter-point rate cut is already factored into the oil price and that if the Federal Reserve makes no cut, oil could decline further as the U.S. dollar strengthens.

Think $3.79 per gallon for gasoline is high? Germans are paying the equivalent of roughly $8.60 per gallon for gas now.

From MSNBC:

It is an everyday lottery when it comes to fuel prices at German gas stations. Prices for regular unleaded and diesel gas bounces up and down, often changing twice on the same day. And drivers in this car-loving nation are unhappily dealing with increasing prices at the pump.

Record prices on the international oil markets have driven gas prices across Europe sky high, with a gallon of unleaded gas costing about $8.60 per gallon in Germany. (In Germany, gas is sold by the liter with one liter of unleaded fuel selling for an average of $2.29)

The high prices hit people where it counts – in the wallet.

CHINESE ECONOMY CONTINUES GROWING AT BRISK PACE

GDP data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics Thursday shows that the Chinese economy continues to grow at an amazing pace, up 11.1% for the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same time-frame for 2006.

From The New York Times:

The surge in growth is almost certain to force Beijing to step up efforts to cool the economy. Pressure is also mounting on officials to allow the value of the currency, the yuan, to appreciate more quickly.

Fueled by soaring exports and huge investments in infrastructure, factories and energy supplies, China could soon overtake Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy, behind those of the United States and Japan.

The burst of growth, one of the largest in a decade, came on the heels of four consecutive years of double-digit economic growth, including an increase last year of 10.7%, the fastest annual growth in a decade.

The statistics bureau said that retail sales rose 15%, industrial production was up 18% and exports jumped 28%.