Oil prices fall on housing report

Oil prices fall on housing report

Oil prices fell Wednesday after a government report showed the housing industry still has a long way to go to recover.

Benchmark oil for March delivery lost 50 cents to settle at $91.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

At the gas pump, prices rose again, to a national average of about $3.11 for a gallon of regular, according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. That’s nearly 13 cents more than a month ago and 37 cents more than a year ago.

The Commerce Department said builders broke ground on 587,600 homes in 2010. That was the second lowest number of homes started since 1959.

The worst year was 2009 when only 554,000 homes were started. That compares with about a million new units a year when the economy is healthy.

The data were an indication that Americans are not building new homes as unemployment remains high and credit remains tight for many people.

From wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .62, 23.18 —.26

Avalon Holdings,3.000.00

Clear Channel, .80 57.45 —.44

Cortland Bancorp, 5.60.25

Delphi Automotive, .02 0.00

Farmers Nat., .12, 3.70 0.00

First Energy, 2.20, 38.82.06

FirstMerit Corp., .64,19.39 —.62

First Niles Financial, .32,6.75

First Place Fin., 2.76—.16

FNB Corp., .48,10.13—.45

General Motors,37.40—.63

General Electric, .56,18.33—.27

Motors Liquidation, .090.00

Huntington Bank, .04, 7.00—.19

JP Morgan Chase, .20,43.71—1.04

Key Corp, .04,8.54—.33

LaFarge, 15.83 .12

Macy’s, .20, 22.92—.48

Parker Hannifin, 1.16, 91.08—.83

PNC, .40,61.81—1.43

RTI Intl. Metals,26.54—.68

Rural/Metro, 14.11 —.49

Simon Prop. Grp.,3.20,98.73—1.06

Stoneridge 15.11 —.60

United Community Fin. 1.57—.01

Selected prices at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Provided by Stifel Nicolaus. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.