As the dollar has rebounded from some recently disappointing jobs news, it has pushed back against recent gains in oil prices and gold prices. A barrel of oil fell below $79 in Friday (January 15) morning trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Just when it appeared that the gold price was ready to reverse its long-running and fast-paced upward trend, speculators have begun to jump back in. After falling to a 60-day low of $1,080.50, the price of gold reached its highest point in just over a month at the close of New York trade on January 6th.

Crude oil continued to rise after encouraging manufacturing data although a resurgent dollar limited the advance.

US crude oil futures rose over 2% on Monday, settling at a 14-month high, following encouraging economic data from the US and China and as the dollar weakened against major currencies.

Crude oil prices finished the year not far from $80 a barrel in quiet trade.

The drop off in the oil price in the latter part of 2008 from the highs at $147 gave the market food for thought with respect to the oil price and its perception as a “one way bet”.

As temperatures plummet with the winter months in many parts of the US, some speculators appear to be expecting increased crude demand to result. Benchmark crude oil prices were up $1.22 to $73.87 in early Friday (December 18) morning trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.