Buckle up, baby

It's gonna be a wild ride!

-- NEW YORK -- Oil prices leaped more than $25 (U.S.) a barrel Monday — the biggest one-day price jump ever — as anxiety over the U.S. government's $700-billion bailout plan, a weak dollar and an expiring crude contract ignited a dramatic rally.

Phil Flynn, analyst and oil trader with Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, said the late-session surge in oil appeared to be the result of a large investment fund scrambling to cover its short positions, or bets that prices would fall.

“When people sense that someone is short, it's like blood on the streets. It just accelerates the rally.”

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