News

July 03, 2009

Oil Price Falls To US$67 A Barrel On Gloomy US Economic Stats After A Rogue Trader Spikes It To US$73.50 At One Point

By Eithne Treanor

The gloomy state of the economy took centre stage as higher than expected jobless figures from the US shocked the market. Oil demand is still low and real signs of recovery remain distant. The US market is closed on Friday but in early trading, the oil price was hovering below US$67 a barrel.

The American jobless rate is now at a 26-year high with this week’s figures reporting more almost half a million jobs cut in June, up to 9.5 percent. The situation in Europe was equally gloomy with unemployment now at it’s highest for 10 years. Such pessimistic data sent the oil price lower signalling a stalling in the fragile demand we’ve known for months. The US dollar gained strength in the market adding to the demise of commodity prices and causing concerns about a possible rise in interest...