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U.S. markets make modest gains Tuesday

NEW YORK, July 29 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks indexes gained modestly in New York Tuesday morning after retailers reported a strong week ending July 26.

The International Council of Shopping Centers said U.S. retail sales rose 1.2 percent in the week, while gasoline prices dropped to an average price of $3.955 per gallon.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 109.75 points or 0.99 percent to 11,240.83. The Nasdaq composite index rose 33.05 points to 2,297.27, up 1.46 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 gained 11.55 points to 1,245.92, up 0.94 percent.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 16/32 to yield 4.071 percent.

The euro traded at $1.5643 Tuesday from Monday's close of $1.5743. Against the yen, the dollar was at 108.14 compared with Monday's close of 107.47.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Index lost 194.33 points to 13,159.45, off 1.46 percent.

Fed flooded with credit card commentary

WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- The Federal Reserve's proposal to reign in deceptive credit card policies has drawn thousands of comments, the U.S. central bank said.

More than 33,000 comments -- a record for a credit card proposal -- have flooded in from consumers, businesses and the banking industry, USA Today reported Tuesday.

The proposals would tighten rules on applying payments to low versus high interest rate balances, changing interest rates on accrued debt and calculating fees, the newspaper reported.

"The banks are out of control," Barry Burke of Plano, Texas, wrote to the Fed after he was charged a $39 late fee on top of an interest rate change to 21.99 percent when the issuer of his card failed to send him a statement, the report said.

"Consumers are getting tired of getting bleep, bleep bleeped by credit card companies," said Linda Sherry of watchdog group Consumer Action.

Banks have also responded to the call for comment.

"We're listening," Ken Clayton, a senior vice president at the American Bankers Association told the newspaper.

But, Clayton warned that curbing some practices "may drive up prices for all customers."

"People that are perceived as riskier may see their access to credit dry up," Clayton said.

Gas field producing instant millionaires

SHREVEPORT, La., July 29 (UPI) -- One of the largest natural U.S. gas fields is making instant millionaires out of modest, work-a-day Louisiana and Texas land owners, sources said.

The Haynesville Shale gas field is not accurately mapped. But some experts say it stretches from Louisiana to East Texas, where some residents are living in trailers on top of land that could make them very wealthy, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Linda Whatley, a bank worker, said she became "a multimillionaire overnight."

"You get over a million in one night, it's hard to get used to," Mike Smith, a suddenly rich appraiser, said.

In a few months, mineral rights have skyrocketed from a few hundred dollars to more than $30,000 an acre, the Times said.

The De Soto Parish Police Jury, could hardly believe their luck, suddenly finding themselves holding a check for $28.7 million, 150 percent larger than their annual budget.

The Jury, the equivalent of a county commission, held off on making a decision on what to do with their windfall, the Times reported.

Times have changed. "Six months ago, you could have bought the whole parish for $1,000 an acre," said O. L. Stone Jr., the clerk of the Shreveport, La. court.

Experts point to peak oil production

WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- The world's maximum oil output peaked about three years ago, an industry expert from Texas said.

Mathew Simmons, a consultant from Houston says that Saudi Arabia's largest oil field, Ghawar, is in decline and that sustainable global production reached its peak in May 2005.

Simmons argues the current price of oil -- about $125 per barrel -- is too low, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Other experts have different peak production time lines.

Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive officer of French oil company Total has said maximum global output capacity is about 100 million barrels of oil a day, which means rising demand will exceed the world's maximum possible production in less than 10 years, the Post reported.

In a report issued this month, the International Energy Agency said making up for declining oil production in established fields would take more than 3.5 million barrels a day of new production.

In the United States, production peaked in 1970 at 9.6 million barrels a day, which covered most of the country's needs at the time, the Post reported. Production has declined to 5.1 million barrels a day, covering about 42 percent of the country's demand.