Oil prices staged a late rally this afternoon after Iraq reacted angrily to comments from George Bush last night in his State of the Union address Speaking at the United Nations today, Iraqi UN ambassador Mohammad Al-Douri said Iraq would fight any US attacks. He said the invasion "that did not succeed in Vietnam would never succeed in Iraq" At 1715, crude oil in London was up 58c, or 1.9pc, to USD30.85 per barrel
Bush's speech, in which he once again said that the US would attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein did not disarm, also hit European and US equity markets. Shares in London closed lower this evening for the 12th time in 13 days, while on Wall St, both the Dow and the Nasdaq are heading lower again Oil prices were also boosted after the Department of Energy reported a smaller than expected decline in US crude oil stocks, but said product stocks fell sharply The report said crude stocks fell 500,000 barrels, or 0.02pc, to 273.3 million in the week to 24 January, less than the two million barrel decline expected. However, gasoline stocks fell 3.3 million barrels to 213 million and distillate fuel stocks declined 6.8 million barrels to 122.4 million. //www.fxcentre.com