Investment-blog.net: Stocks, Emerging markets, Bonds, Currencies and Commodities

Crude-oil futures drop 1% in early trade

Mar 28, 2008 Market Outlook

Crude-oil futures drop 1% in early trade

By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch

Last Update: 9:14 AM ET Mar 28, 2008

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures dropped 1% Friday, following their
surge in the previous session on news that a key export oil pipeline in Iraq had
been sabotaged.

Crude oil for May delivery lost 98 cents to trade at $106.60 a barrel in early
morning action on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Thursday, crude futures had ended up $1.68, or 1.6%, to $107.58 a barrel. In
Basra, Iraq, a bomb hit the Zubair-1 pipeline that sends crude oil to the
country’s two exporting terminals, reports said Thursday.

CNBC reported Friday that the damaged pipeline could be repaired and back in
operation later in the day.

“For now, we think the market will take its cue from the situation in Iraq, as
the situation in Basra and the roughly 1.5 million barrels a day that hangs in
the balance seems to be a rallying cry for the bulls,” said Edward Meir, an
analyst at MF Global, in a research note.

“Apart from this Iraqi variable, however, we do not see much else to justify the
high oil prices we are seeing,” Meir said.

Wednesday’s inventories report from the Energy Department was not that bullish,
he said.

“The low crude import numbers and anemic demand readings were given relatively
short shrift by the market stampede higher,” he said.

Weakness in the U.S. dollar has been another supportive factor for high energy
prices.

On the currency markets Friday, the dollar was little changed against the euro
and posted a slight gain against the Japanese yen after the Commerce Department
reported that consumer spending was flat in February and that inflation moderated
in January.

Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it, about it, and subscribe to the blog RSS feed.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Depression? Oversold? Just the beginning? Close to the end? You will find zero guidance from quality analysts.
• A List of ETFs You Should Know In Stock Market
• Florida pension fund loses a quarter its value
• Good bye to U.S dollar. Say hello to Gold and Amero
• S&P 500 losses nearly $1 trillion more than 2000-02

Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it, about it, and subscribe to the blog RSS feed.