US Crude Oil Stocks Hit All-Time Record; Price Falls 5%; Price Of Gasoline Rising Due To Speculators -- Texas AAA; The Titans Of Search -- February 4, 2015

Reuters is reporting:

Brent extended losses to fall below $56 a barrel on Wednesday, reversing a four session rally after U.S. crude inventories jumped to a record high, shifting the global glut back in to focus.

Oil's near 20 percent surge since Friday had raised speculation crude's seven-month rout may be at an end, but the sharp sell-off on Wednesday indicated prices may not yet have found a floor, with the market still well supplied.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude stocks rose by 6.3 million barrels last week to 413.06 million barrels, the highest level since records began in 1982.

Memo to self: send note to Jane Nielson -- there is oil in the Bakken.

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The Price Of Gasoline Is Set By Speculators -- Texas AAA

I don't know if readers are aware of this story. After months of falling, gasoline prices are now starting to rise again. In Texas, gasoline has gone up as much as ten cents in the past 24 hours. This morning on talk radio: the price of gasoline is not due to supply and demand, but due to "speculators." LOL. No who said that? Texas AAA. Speculators. I haven't heard anything about speculators in the past year.

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The Titans

The Street is reporting:

Google, which has seen its share of the U.S. search market already decline after being replaced in the Firefox web browser three months ago, is facing an even bigger threat should Apple also oust it from the iconic computer maker's widely used Safari browser. 

Google slipped to a 74.8% share of the U.S. search market on desktop computers and tablets in January, while Yahoo! grew its slice to 10.9%, according to StatCounter, which analyzes search referrals of three million websites. The shift came after Yahoo replaced Google as the default search engine of Mozilla's Firefox web browser.

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I Knew It Was Bad; I Did Not Know It Was This Bad

WSJ op-ed is reporting:

In Russia today, 110 persons, including Mr. Putin’s cronies, control 35% of the country’s wealth while 50% of adults have total household wealth of $871 or lower.

In 2014, food prices rose 15.4%. It is a measure of the government’s concern that it has cut the price of vodka, despite the need to fill the treasury. This is a transparent attempt to use vodka to tranquilize the population.