Business

Oil Up, Oil Down

By Stacey Vanek Smith,

Published November 14, 2018 at 3:09 PM MST

The price of oil had climbed aggressively from the summer of 2017 through the end of last month — but then it started falling. And falling. And falling. The price of Brent crude fell from $86 to about $66 yesterday, an astonishing decline of 23 percent.

What changed? We look at four potential reasons: U.S. output, exemptions to the sanctions on Iran, decelerating global economic growth, and the strengthening U.S. dollar.

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Stacey Vanek Smith

Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money. She's also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she's traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country's dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she's spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China.

See stories by Stacey Vanek Smith

Cardiff Garcia

Cardiff Garcia is a co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money podcast, along with Stacey Vanek Smith. He joined NPR in November 2017.

See stories by Cardiff Garcia