The company said its overseas earnings for the year increased 44.3 percent, to $2.77 billion, also because of higher oil and natural gas prices.

Since then, principally because of high oil and gasoline prices, the deficit has remained at the $100 billion annual mark.

The Bush administration is under increasing pressure to explain its approach to higher oil and gasoline costs.

The industry paid £12.9 billion in corporate taxes in 2008-9, the largest since the mid-1980s, because of high oil and gas prices.

Many of those nations are beginning to worry that high oil prices may slow growth and hurt the global economy.

The airline stocks continued to suffer from the prospect of higher oil and fuel costs.

Energy, supported by high oil and natural-gas prices, was the strongest.

The current inflationary trend is being racheted by higher oil and food prices.

These subsidies along with high oil and whalebone prices encouraged expansion.

It's possible that high oil and food prices, which are being driven by some long-term forces, will prove more important than the global economic slowdown.