Oil Prices Fall to $116 Per Barrel on Rising Dollar, US Stocks Rebound

Oil slips below $116 on strong dollar

www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-09 06:42:29

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) --

Oil prices resumed their declines Friday, as the U.S. dollar surged to a six-month high against the euro and expectations of slowing global demand offset supply concerns over a fire on key Turkish pipeline.

The U.S. dollar enjoyed a powerful rebound against the euro, after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England both left their benchmark interest rates unchanged, which made traders found reasons to sell.

Moreover, the central banks' actions also boosted speculations that economies around the world are slowing and will further dampen demand for oil.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery slipped 4.82 dollars to settle at 115.20 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and continued to dip below 115 dollars a barrel in electronic trading after the close. Many traders regard 117 dollars a barrel as a key support level for crude oil. They say a move below this level suggests oil's recent slide is more than a brief pullback.

Dollar rises as oil prices fall, U.S. stocks rebound

www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-09 05:58:45

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) --

The dollar rose against major currencies on Friday as oil prices fell and U.S. stocks rebounded sharply.

Crude oil prices fell on Friday as investors worried that a U.S. and global economic slowdown would dampen demand for petroleum products.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped 4.82 U.S. dollars to settle at 115.20 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It touched a session low of 114.90 dollars in earlier trading.

Wall Street rebounded sharply as falling oil prices eased some worries about financial companies. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 300 points on Friday, boosting the U.S. currency.

The euro bought 1.5013 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.5328 dollars it bought late Thursday. The British pound fell to 1.9198 dollars from 1.9436 dollars.

The dollar rose to 1.0810 Swiss francs from 1.0625 Swiss francs, and rose to 110.24 Japanese yen from 109.45 Japanese yen. It rose to 1.0685 Canadian dollars from 1.0517 Canadian dollars.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Wall Street moderately higher as oil falls

www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-08 22:12:54

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) --

Wall Street saw a moderately higher open Friday as a big decline in oil prices offset concerns about financials after mortgage finance company Fannie Mae posted a worse-than-expected second-quarter loss.

A drop in oil appeared to help shore up investor sentiment. Light, sweet crude fell 2.26 U.S. dollars to 117.76 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as stronger U.S. dollar cuts demand for commodities.

Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage-finance company, sliced its dividend to five cents from 35 cents, after the company a loss of 2.3 billion dollars, or 2.54 dollars a share. The loss was more than triple what Wall Street expected. Fannie tumbled in early trading.

Ahead of the opening bell, the U.S. Labor Department reported that productivity grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent during the second quarter. That was down from a 2.6 percent growth rate logged in the first quarter. Meanwhile, unit labor costs slipped to a 1.3 percent pace in the second quarter, from a 2.5 percent growth rate in the first quarter.

The Dow Jones rose 30.86 to 11,462.29. Broader indexes also traded higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 3.10 to 1,269.17; and the Nasdaq rose 12.86 to 2,368.59.

Editor: Pliny Han

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