Crude Oil Breaks Below USD64

Crude oil broke below $64/barrel Monday as the dollar firmed on its safe-haven status.

It's a jittery start to the week, with Asian and European stocks lower as appetite for risk evaporates.

News last week that US job losses had surged by more than expected to 467,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate to a new 26-year high of 9.5 per cent, indicates that demand for crude oil from the world's largest consumer is unlikely to pick up anytime soon.

Crude oil has now slumped by more than $9 from last Tuesday's high above $73/barrel despite fresh militant activity in Nigeria over the weekend.

News that rebels had hijacked a chemical tanker with six foreign crew members aboard, destroyed a strategic facility owned by US oil group Chevron and claimed responsibility for an attack on a Royal Dutch Shell facility in the Niger Delta, would have sent the markets soaring twelve months ago.

Instead, in the wake of this recession, we have crude $1.78 lower at $63.85/barrel.