STRONG DOLLAR
Economically, The United States is doing great, and the value of the dollar vs. international currency is very strong. Although in general this is good for the country, it does create a further imbalance in energy prices, since it effectively makes the cost of anything from America more expensive on the global market. Also, because oil is usually priced in dollars, the strong dollar means the drop in price is less of a benefit in euro, yen and other currencies because it takes more of their domestic currency to buy a barrel of oil priced in dollars.