Oil prices fell on Friday amid uncertainty over the fate of a proposed US government bank bailout mired in wrangling between the White House and Congress.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, fell US$1.13 a barrel to close at US$106.89.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for November shed US$1.06 to settle at US$103.54.
US President George W. Bush’s administration and lawmakers struggled on Friday to hammer out a compromise over a US$700 billion plan to buy tainted mortgage-related assets from financial firms.
A deal that appeared on the verge of happening had lifted oil prices by more than US$2 on Thursday, but uncertainty returned after the market closed when the would-be deal disintegrated in the face of a revolt from Bush’s own party in Congress.
“The rhetoric from the president, the Treasury secretary and the Fed chairman is far from calming,” said Sherry Cooper of BMO Capital Markets. “Warnings of financial Armageddon could, in itself, trigger panic.”
Phil Flynn at Alaron Trading said the macroeconomics of the situation “is playing right into the bear oil trader’s hands.”
“It is obvious that the demand growth for oil is going to be severely challenged. With the world’s largest consumer of almost everything ... about to have a financial meltdown, the prospects for demand growth are not that good,” Flynn said.
Oil prices have dropped sharply from record-high levels above US$147 in July on worries that demand will shrink in the faltering global economy.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies sought to show a united front in Canada yesterday after seven weeks of rising tensions between US allies and US President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs. The G7 ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, along with the EU, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face. Top of the agenda for Washington’s partners would be getting a
RSS