Crude oil prices jumped $5 per barrel today to close at $136-1/2 per barrel as previously unheard of levels of price volatility are now becoming the norm. Last Friday, crude oil prices underwent their largest single-day price spike in history, climbing nearly $11 per barrel on the day. That historic event was accompanied by the release of other troubling economic  news: home foreclosures reached a new record high, unemployment rose a half percentage point in May – the largest one-month jump since 1986, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 400 points. The Wall Street Journal also reported today that the U.S. trade deficit was nearly $61 billion for the month of April, and continuing to grow faster than at any time in the last three years. Oil imports for the month of June will cost the U.S. about $40 billion.