Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 11/22/24

Futures were little changed in New York after rising 8.3 percent the previous seven sessions. U.S. drillers targeting crude reduced the number of active rigs for the first time in 24 weeks, according to Baker Hughes Inc. data on Friday. Libya’s oil production climbed to more than 1 million barrels a day for the first time in four years, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. While prices surged last week, oil in New York and London still posted a monthly loss in June after tumbling into a bear market on concerns that rising global supply will counter cuts from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners. There are signs of a slowdown in the U.S., but Libya is adding more oil to the market as it restarts fields that are exempt from OPEC’s production curbs. Click Read More below for more of the story.

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $4.215; Month Ago: $3.619; Year Ago: $2.876. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $5.109; Month Ago: $4.106; Year Ago: $3.092.

Last week, the International Longshoremen’s Association provided a legally-required 60-day strike notice ahead of the expiration of the East Coast dockworkers’ contract at the end of September. More than 40,000 port workers are pressing for strike action against the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on October 1 if their demands are not met. A strike by East Coast dockworkers would have a colossal impact not only on the profits of the major maritime shipping companies, but, most significantly, on the entire global capitalist economy. The contract covers 36 ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States, including the port of New York and New Jersey, the second biggest in the country. The Atlantic and Gulf ports handle over 100 million tons of cargo every year from Europe, South America and Asia.