Oil, where is it going?

Any belief that energy prices had bottomed out were wiped away early in the day as crude plumbed new lows for the year and more government data suggested the economy may be worsening.

"The bull oil era is officially over," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell more than percent, or $2.78, to $34.50 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. At one point prices fell as low as $33.20.

Crude prices have fallen so fast, the cost for retail gasoline has yet to catch up. Pump prices nudged up again overnight, but is likely to fall.

Some of us might want to rethink the end of the bull market in oil.

The nifty gadget above tracks the latest price in oil in near real-time. Oil was priced 34.69 a barrel today (January 15, 2009).