he's john kilduff, energy analyst at m.f. global. >> susie: if you're looking to trade in your old gas guzzler, you'd better do so soon. the government is slamming the brakes on the popular cash for clunkers program. >> paul: i'm paul kangas. >> susie: and i'm susie gharib. this is "nightly business report" for wednesday, august 19. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> susie: good evening, everyone. an unwelcome surprise for the u.s. economy today, as more americans filed for jobless benefits. the number of claims jumped by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 576,000. most economists had expected a drop. the report raises questions about the economic outlook and the strength of the recovery. >> susie: while those unemployment claims rose last week, not every out-of-work person is eligible to receive benefits. as stephanie dhue explains, there are many categories of who can and cannot get financial help. >> thank you.

john kilduff just on our air said he thinks oil's going to 100. where do you think it's going and what's your investment strategy as a result? >> i listen to john kilduff probably as much as i listen to anybody. he's very, very smart. and in the fund that i run we've actually put on some bullish trades in crude oil. we're long high beta crude stocks, and we're short the rather more boring ones. it's a bullish trade. i've got to tell you, once we got above $70 i was surprised. especially in light of the continued large numbers of crude in storage other than last week's number that we got yesterday. you just have to be surprised by what's going on. nonetheless, it's china coming around, buying crude oil, buying natural gas, buying coal, buying energy wherever it can get its hands on. they are the taker. >> i thought china -- i thought they stopped stockpiling oil. >> china needs all the oil -- >> that's kind of a wry smile on my face. >> china needs all the energy it can get its hands on. it doesn't need to stockpile. it goes to angola and fixes fiv

joining now to talk more about the outlook for pric, john kilduff energy alyst at m.f. globa hi, john. >> hi, good evening, susie >> so u're prediing $100 oil by the endf the year. that's a big moverom where we are rightow. give us yournalysis? >> well, it's a very real possibility. because ofll the elemes that aret work rig now in the various markets, the recovery you s in the stock market n a way for right now it's good news for us al that oil pris are where they are because it is a real validation that economic activity is back in the calculus of everhing, rticularly in china and certainlin what we are seeing in europe. as you mentioned tay about the earlier in e show about the leading economic indicators, showing anoer posive reang today. all combining to help push these oil pric up. >>s it real demand, joh because we aays here about --ear about speculations in the market, manipulation in the l market is thiseal economic activity? it's a combinatioof real ecomic activity. it's also aombination dema -- inflation fears that are in this market that e beingdriven by budg

and also john kilduff, senior r vice president and energy analyst at mf global. i'm going and both of you guys, what is going to stop oil from going right back to 150 the minute the economy recovers? aren't speculators -- and i don't say that in a negative way. but aren't people who bet on this market going to pile back in and bid it back up? john, what do you think? >> i think 147 remains a steep high water mark, melissa. but i think 100 is certainly in the cards for the very reason that's you're talking about. in particular, for me, though, i think the china situation is being vastly underestimated. despite all the talk it even gets now, they're going to be sucking the resources out of the world. iron ore, crude oil, the whole lot of it, and they're coming on much stronger than people realize.e. >> don't they lie lie about their numbers, though, ron?n? >> the chinese? >> yeah. don't they overestimate what their gdp -- >> you realize the cnbc world is going to get nasty letters from beijing, now you said that publicly. all i know is the stimulus they've design s

remember, earlier this week we got that very bullish inventory report, and john kilduff of mf global says that he's seeing some strength in the markets with stocks moving higher and also with the idea that perhaps really this is a genuine demand turnaround, that we are seeing some genuine strength in the markets. where we're not seeing strength is in natural gas. that is still on the weak side, rick, and it's more of a u.s.-centric story. natural gas versus oil. natural gas is u.s. oil, more world. back over to you in chicago, rick. >> well, thank you, rebecca. and it has been an unreal world in terms of treasuries this week. first of all, volume's been somewhat light. a lot of europeans, of course, on vacation. and if you're looking at what's going on in general, let's look at charts. start out with the dollar. the dollar really having a tough week. it's down on the day, down on the week, and very close to those same august lows we were looking at about three weeks ago. if you look at a one-week of ten-years, you'll see what i mean. we changed it all after the good data today. yield