Businessweek. 

After months of betting on an increase in oil prices, some speculators now see a new downward trend.

That’s because in today’s oil market, change is the only constant. The latest twist came on Dec. 5, when OPEC announced at its meeting in Abu Dhabi that it would not increase production. That pushed prices toward $90 per barrel in overnight trading. Further bolstering prices was a U.S. government report that oil inventories had dropped by a surprising 8 million barrels the week ending Nov. 30 from the week prior, sending prices as high as $90.35 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NMX) in morning trading.

But the increase was only momentary, and within a couple of hours, prices were falling again. That move tracked the downward trend of the past week, as growing fears of a U.S. recession and speculation OPEC would boost production had helped push oil down more than $10, closing on Dec. 4 at $88.32 per barrel on the Nymex.