Though I don't know anyone in Katrina's path, my thoughts are with those of you out there less lucky than I am.

There has been a lot of news attention given to the evacuation of New Orleans and brightly (false-)colored but realize also that it's shut down a huge chunk of US oil refining capacity-- nearly one-fifth of all American refining capacity is in the state of Louisiana alone. Get ready for that to put a little bit more loft into oil prices.