Crude Oil
WTI U.S. stocks slumped the most in three weeks and oil climbed to an eight-month high as violence escalated across Iraq. Treasuries rallied on signs the U.S. economic recovery remains uneven.There’s potential for disruption to spread around the Middle East and we’re talking about significant amounts of daily supply,” Michael McCarthy, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney who predicts Brent may climb to $125 a barrel if there’s an attack on Baghdad. “The market got concerned about potential disruption in Libya; Iraq is a much more serious situation.” Crude oil gained as much as $1.15 to $107.68 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $107.33 at 11:35 a.m. Sydney time. The contract rose $2.13 to $106.53 yesterday, the highest close since Sept. 18. The volume of all futures traded was almost five times the 100-day average. Prices have advanced 4.5 percent this week.
Gold
Gold jumped to 1270 as The dollar fell for a second day as government reports showed the U.S. economy remains sluggish, backing speculation the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates at historically low levels and Jobless claims climbed by 4,000 in the week ended June 7, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 310,000. U.S. retail sales rose 0.3 percent last month followed a revised 0.5 percent gain in April that was much larger than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington..
