Oil hits $100

All commodity prices are up today, as the dollar keeps slumping and investors start to worry about inflation. The $100-a-barrel oil price apparently was brief (only a few trades, according to the wires), but also telling. There's just too much to worry about: a drop in gasoline inventories, possible violence in Nigeria, possible violence in Pakistan, etc. Stocks are also way down after an index of U.S. manufacturing activity fell in November, well below economists' expectations. "The ISM number was really the coup de grace," Steven Kroll Sr., managing director at Monness, Crespi & Hardt, told the WSJ. Happy New Year everybody.