OIL TOPS $115 AS U.S. DOLLAR NEARS $1.60 PER EURO

Oil traded at over $115 per barrel yesterday and early today as the U.S. dollar sank to nearly $1.60 per euro. Some are $3.80 per gallon retail for gasoline in the near future.

From AP via MSNBC:

Crude oil futures fluctuated Thursday after moving past $115 per barrel and hitting an all-time high in overnight electronic trading on a weaker dollar and supply concerns.

Overall, crude prices have jumped more than 4 percent this week, in part due to the falling dollar, as well as a host of supply and demand concerns in the U.S. and abroad.

The combination of all these factors will push oil prices even higher in coming weeks, said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Florida, trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.

"I think we're going at least to $125 (per barrel)," Cordier said. "That'll probably translate to about $3.80 (a gallon for gasoline) at the pump."

U.S. DOLLAR AT $1.5779 PER EURO, EXPECTED TO WEAKEN FURTHER

The U.S. dollar traded at $1.5779 in late trading today and some are expecting it to fall past $1.60 if the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates at the April 30th meeting. The Fed is widely expected to lower rates at least a quarter of a point and perhaps a half point or more at that meeting, or perhaps even before, in an effort to use monetary policy to stimulate the economy. So far this year, the dollar has fallen by 7.5% against the euro.