A Week's Worth

• Oil prices fell three straight days to move below $48 a barrel, partly because the United States' commercial oil supply reached its highest level in three years. After peaking in early April at levels 67 percent higher than a year earlier, oil prices now stand only about 18 percent higher.

• Greenback's return: The US dollar reached its highest level against the euro in seven months. The dollar has moved higher against major currencies, because of economic reports suggesting that the US economy is not slowing. Retail sales, for example, made their biggest monthly jump in six months.

• Job security: Nearly 8 in 10 workers in a survey said there was little or no chance they would be fired in the coming year. That's the most confidence Right Management Consultants has found in more than two years of tracking. Nevertheless, 8 in 10 workers also said it would be hard to find a new job without taking a cut in pay.

• Togetherness: Pressured to generate growth and find new markets, two-thirds of executives plan on boosting their use of strategic alliances, according to a KPMG LLP survey. Half expect more joint ventures.

• Lost wisdom: Nearly half of workers in a survey said their companies have no formal process for older workers to transfer their knowledge to younger ones. A quarter said their employers don't even have informal ways to capture their knowledge, according to Accenture.