in the news

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices spiked up above $51 a barrel on Wednesday as increasing signs of an electoral victory for President Bush raised the prospect of continued high demand in the world's biggest energy consumer.

U.S. election tallies projected a growing lead for Bush, including the key swing states of Ohio and Florida, helping to reverse a slide in prices this week on speculation that a win by Democrat Senator John Kerry could usher in lower prices.

U.S. light crude surged as high as $51.20 a barrel, putting a floor under a week-long 12 percent rout. At 2:24 a.m. EST, U.S crude was up $1.27 at $50.89.

"A Bush administration continued in its present form would have a Department of Energy that is extremely fossil fuel-centric and, because of the focus on fossil fuels, we would expect prices to rise," said economist Jason Schenker at Wachovia Securities.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fewer Americans filed jobless claims last week and worker productivity slowed sharply in the third quarter, government data showed on Thursday, hinting at better conditions in the country's sluggish labor market.

Financial markets took the data in stride, with both the dollar and benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds hovering following the release, awaiting the more important October employment report due out on Friday.

First-time claims for state unemployment benefits shrank to 332,000 in the week ended Oct. 30 from 351,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said, though an official noted that part of the decline had been due to fewer hurricane-related claims in Florida.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims to fall more moderately, to 340,000.

"I think the latest decline by jobless claims supports the possibility of an improving labor market that will probably take the form of the addition of nearly 200,000 jobs to payrolls for the month of October," said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Investors Service.

A second report showed third quarter productivity growth slowing sharply to a 1.9 percent pace, faster than forecast but still half the previous month's 3.9 percent tally, while unit labor costs advanced at a moderate 1.6 percent rate.

Weaker productivity may be good news for the labor market if it means that firms are running out of ways to squeeze existing workers into producing more and would now boost hiring.


LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - MTV and the nonprofit group Rock the Vote, partners in a massive public awareness campaign to encourage young Americans to participate in today's presidential election, have come under fire from Republicans accusing them of pushing a pro-Democratic agenda and challenging MTV and Rock the Vote's assertions that their get-out-the-vote campaigns are nonpartisan.

The charges stem mainly from a Rock the Vote campaign focused on the issue of a military draft. To get its point across, Rock the Vote sent out 660,000 e-mails in late September with a mock draft card signed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States, and to report to a polling place near you," read the draft cards.

In addition, Rock the Vote created two public service announcements focused on the issue of the draft and a third celebrity-packed public service announcement (PSA) that referred to the draft as one of many issues young voters might be concerned about. At least one of the draft-themed PSAs ran on MTV for 10 consecutive days in September. Rock the Vote also has devoted a significant amount of content to the issue on its Web site.