At mid-day, the Dow has gain back about half of what it lost this morning, and is currently down -68 points. The minor sell-off in oil was fractionally due to the Zarqawi news, but the see-saw action in the oil pits is due to a combination of events.

1) Traders believe a slowdown in global economic growth will lesson demand for energy.
2) And yesterday, the Energy Department said crude oil stockpiles increased and gasoline inventories rose for a sixth straight week.

Ok, so the fears are on the table. What about the approaching hurricane's in the weeks ahead? Oil traders are not stupid, I am confident they will be positioning themselves ahead of the inevitable.

I've noticed that oil has peaked above the $70/bbl mark on the ticker during lunch. Regardless of what happens today or tomorrow, energy will continue to be a problem for quite some time.