What do toothpaste, perfume, soap and ink have in common? The surprising answer is turpentine. This versatile byproduct of the pulp- and paper-making process is used in a wide range of everyday products. Consider a typical day: You wake up and brush your teeth. Then you take a shower using your favorite soap. After you get dressed, you apply some makeup or a spritz of cologne or perfume. You might not have realized it, but before you left home this morning, you used a number of products that contain a special form of turpentine that Domtar makes. Your perfume’s floral fragrance and your toothpaste’s minty freshness originated as crude sulfate turpentine, a USDA-certified, all-natural and renewable byproduct of the pulp- and paper-making process. In fact, many of the scents and flavorings in products you encounter every day are derived from byproducts of the pulp- and paper-making process. Click Read More below for additional information.

Oil prices are approaching the highs of January, after a wider market rout spurred the worst February decline in half a decade. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies have concluded they will eradicate the oil surplus by September even as investors continue to weigh those comments against surging U.S. crude production. U.S. crude inventories fell by 2.62 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Analysts had forecast a gain of 3.25 million barrels, and only two of the 12 surveyed had expected a decline. America’s gasoline inventories also tumbled for a third week to the lowest level since late January, while distillate stockpiles contracted for a sixth straight week to the least since December. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.824625; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.155365; American Dollar to Euro = 1.212374; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.009151; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.050486.