Oil has traded at $100 a barrel for the first time
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1888
Violence in http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1262 and Pakistan, the weak US dollar and the threat of cold weather have all raised prices after the new year break.
Light sweet crude rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel in New York, prompting a drop in shares and a http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1763 in gold prices.
There are concerns that the high price of oil will stoke inflation at a time when many central banks are trying to cut interest rates to stimulate growth.
US shares had already been hit on Wednesday by figures showing that the manufacturing sector was contracting.
After oil broke the $100 barrel they fell further, with the Dow Jones closing down 1.7% or 220.9 points at 13044.0.”All of the factors that pushed us above $80 are now moving us higher,” said Peter Beutel at Cameron Hanover in Connecticut.
“Until we get more supply or demand starts to take a hit, there is no reason we can’t see any number.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7168664.stm