Bourse

Home page

Bourse

Oil prices turn downward

06 March 2009 08:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. Crude oil fell after China quelled speculation that the government will add to its stimulus plan and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the global recession is worsening.

Crude oil for April delivery fell $1.77 to settle at $43.61 a barrel at 2:49 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are down 2.2 percent so far this year.

Orders placed with U.S. factories fell in January for a sixth consecutive month, reflecting a pullback in business spending that will probably deepen what may become the worst recession in seven decades. Bookings declined 1.9 percent, less than forecast, after a revised 4.9 percent drop in December, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.

A Labor Department report showed that 639,000 Americans made first-time unemployment applications. It was the fifth week that more than 600,000 Americans filed first-time claims for benefits.

The Standard & Poorâ€™s 500 Index fell to the lowest level since 1996. The S&P 500 lost 4.4 percent to 681.42 at 3:25 p.m., and reached 681.81 earlier today.
Brent crude oil for April settlement declined $2.48, or 5.4 percent, to end the session at $43.64 a barrel on Londonâ€™s ICE Futures Europe exchange. The discount of oil in New York to Brent weakened to 3 cents a barrel, the lowest since Dec. 11 when the U.S. futures last traded at a premium.

The U.S. and China are the biggest oil-consuming countries, responsible for 33 percent of global demand in 2007, according to BP Plc, which publishes its BP Annual Statistical Review of World Energy each June.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, due to meet again on March 15, cut output by 2.7 percent in February, a Bloomberg News survey showed. OPEC production averaged 27.78 million barrels a day last month, down 770,000 from January, according to the survey of oil companies, producers and analysts.
OPEC will reduce crude-oil shipments by 1.9 percent in the month ending March 21, according to Oil Movements. Members will load 22.67 million barrels a day in the period, down from 23.1 million a day in the month ended Feb. 21, the Halifax, England- based based tanker tracker said in a report today.