Oil hits a New Record

Released on: March 10, 2008, 6:29 pm

Press Release Author: Regent Markets (IOM) Limited

Industry: Financial

Press Release Summary: Last week was one for record books; Oil surged above $105
dollars a barrel to reach its highest level since records began.

Press Release Body: Last week was one for record books; Oil surged above $105
dollars a barrel to reach its highest level since records began. Gold fell back from
previous highs, but still managed to get within $5 of the magical $1,000 level at
one point. Gold is up 18% since the beginning of the year, and since bottoming out
in 2001 oil has now risen over 530%. There were also record highs for the Euro,
before this too retraced from its highs of the week.

The sell off on Friday was caused not by all time highs, but by the worst US jobs
data for five years. Initially shares attempted a recovery as rumours of emergency
rate cuts did the rounds. According to analysts, the jobs data solidifies the
prospect of 0.75 base point cut at the next FOMC meeting. However, this wasn’t
enough to lift the gloom and the weak rally soon turned into a rout.

Tremors from the mortgage sector continued to worry traders, as US mortgage
foreclosures reached all time highs, and mortgage hedge fund Carlyle Group failed to
meet a margin call. Not only is this global credit crunch far from over, there are
signs that the crisis is directly impacting the wider economy. The Bank Of
England’s weapon of choice in such circumstances is to cut interest rates, but
their hands are currently tied because of soaring commodity prices. To make matters
worse, the impact of a rate cut may have little effect on consumers, as the cost of
lending remains stubbornly high.

Following the black Monday crash in 1987, markets effectively traded in a range for
8 months. Even though shares recovered, it took two years for the Dow Jones to
regain the previous highs. Given the recent slew of poor economic data, the bulls
could think themselves lucky if a range trading environment is the picture for the
coming months. The benchmark S&P 500 index is now within 23 points of its January
lows, if these hold the bulls will be breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Next week is thankfully lighter on the economic data front, but there is still
enough to keep traders busy. Notable data to be released next are UK Industrial
production and PPI figures on Monday, US trade balance on Tuesday, US core retail
sales on Thursday, the Swiss interest rate decision also on Thursday, and Finally
Core CPI and Consumer sentiment on Friday.

With little headline data from Europe next week and a 0.75 base point cut already
starting to be priced into the Dollar, further upside on the EUR/ USD could be
limited next week. A No Touch trade predicting that the EUR/ USD won’t touch
1.5750 over the next 7 days could return 10% with BetOnMarkets.

-THE END-

Web Site: http://www.betonmarkets.com

Contact Details: Regent Markets (IOM) Limited
3rd Floor, 1-5 Church Street,
Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 2AG,
British Isles.

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