The daily business briefing: August 31, 2021

Ida pushes oil and gasoline prices up slightly, Zoom shares dive despite strong earnings, and more

Residents leave flooded homes
(Image credit: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Ida nudges oil, gasoline prices higher

Oil and gasoline futures prices edged higher Monday after Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana and forced the temporary shutdown of a big part of U.S. oil production and refining operations. Nearly all oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was halted. Ida quickly weakened into a tropical depression after hitting as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, causing flooding and knocking out power to more than 1 million Louisiana utility customers. Energy companies were working to determine how quickly Louisiana refineries and Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production could be restarted. Oil prices rose slightly after surging by 10 percent last week. "The reaction is mixed because we avoided the worst-case scenario," Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff said. "But supplies are tight, and that could impact prices."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.