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Concern about the deadly swine flu weighed on oil prices and triggered a wave of last minute selling on Wall Street Monday.

The World Health Organization called the flu, which is a respiratory disease affecting pigs, a "public health emergency of international concern." The flu has killed 103 people in Mexico.

US light crude oil for June delivery fell $1.41 to settle at $50.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session the contract tumbled to a low of $48.01 a barrel on fears the economic recovery could be held back by the flu.

The stronger dollar also weighed on crude as investors sought safe haven investments.COMEX gold for June delivery fell $5.90 to settle at $908.20 an ounce as investors turned to the greenback instead.

Industrial metals such as copper fell over 3% on Monday on concern that the spread of swine flu will dampen economic recovery.

Travel fears, amid growing concern about the spread of swine flu, weighed on oil demand on Tuesday. Traders are worried that the outbreak will impede economic recovery and further chip away at demand for the black stuff.

US light crude oil for June delivery fell 22 cents to settle at $49.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract, which has lost 4% in two days, traded as low as $48.55 but recovered a bit as US stocks mustered late gains following a better-than-expected consumer confidence report and encouraging house price data.

Oil prices, down sharply from their peak of $147 last summer, have been driven down as the global recession eats into demand. Later today the weekly government report on US supplies is expected to show another increase in stockpiles amid weak demand for oil. Analysts expect US crude stocks to have risen by 1.8m barrels last week.

Among precious metals gold futures fell again on Tuesday, amid a broad commodities sell-off, and following its rally to over $900 an ounce. COMEX gold for June delivery fell $14.60 to settle at $893.60 an ounce.

Gold has also been weakened by a drop in physical demand with gold sales in India, the worlds largest consumer of the yellow metal, down up to 40% as buyers tighten their purse strings amid the global economic downturn.

US crude oil ended higher, tracking gains on Wall Street and after a government report showed a surprise decline in gasoline supplies.

US light crude oil for June delivery rose $1.05 to settle at $50.97 a barrel.

Traders were also reassured that the Federal Open Market Committee kept interest rates at near zero and said that while the outlook had improved in the last month, the US economy was expected to remain weak for a while.

In its weekly inventory report the Energy Information Administration said gasoline supplies declined by 4.1m barrels in the week ended 24 April. Analysts had pencilled in a rise of 900,000 barrels.

Crude stockpiles meanwhile showed a bigger than expected rise. Supplies rose by 4.1m barrels instead of the 1.8m barrels forecast. The report also showed distillates rose by 1.8m barrels, bigger than the predicted 1.3m barrel increase.

US crude oil futures settled higher Thursday, after a volatile session, as traders weighed up another increase weekly stockpiles against signs that the economic downturn is slowing.

US light crude oil for June delivery rose 15 cents to settle at $51.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Labor Department showed initial claims in the week ended 25 April fell 14,000 to 631,000 despite analyst expectations of a 645,000 increase in claims.

Tentative signs of improvement in the jobs market were however weighed down by the Energy Information Agencys monthly petroleum report, which showed a decline in demand for crude in February from the month before.

Among precious metals Comex gold for June delivery fell $9.30 to settle at $891.20 an ounce. The strengthening dollar weighed on the yellow metal as did optimism about an economic recovery.

Gold stable and oil up almost 2$.....anybody like me thinking that the dollar is about to start dropping...I mean : how can you print a trillion's worth without diluting the currency ?.

Shorts will close before a long weekend,just in case of Geopolitical, Required which will make oil rise. Apparently holiday periods usually involve countertrend moves, though if markets tank usd/yen will strengthen

Crude, gold and dow up !; this !, if it continues, bodes well for tomorrow's "morning footsie" !.

1200 point rise on the Hang Seng they must be euphoric!

US crude oil futures settled above $54 a barrel on Monday, to a five month high, on renewed optimism about an economic recovery.

Upbeat US housing and construction data fuelled hopes that the US economy is stabilising.

Meanwhile encouraging data from China also gave investors fresh hopes of a recovery. The US and China are the worlds two biggest oil consumers.

US light crude oil for June delivery settled up $1.27 at $54.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Among precious metals gold broke the psychologically important $900 an ounce level, helped by the weaker dollar.

US crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday, snapping its five session winning streak, as Wall St turned lower and traders await the EIAs weekly data on US stockpiles.

Supplies are expected to have risen again after touching almost a 20-year high last week.

Concern about weak demand also crept back in as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave a mixed outlook on the economy. While he expects economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year he also cautioned that the recovery would be slow, adding that unemployment is likely to rise further.

US light crude oil for June delivery fell 63 cents to settle at $53.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude touched $54.47 a barrel on Monday, its highest level this year so far as investors cheered better than expected economic data.

Among precious metals gold settled modestly higher amid a volatile session on Wall St as jitters set in ahead of the results of the US stress tests on Thursday.

Crude surged to over $56 a barrel, nearly a 6-month high, after a government report said crude stockpiles rose by 600,000 barrels in the week to 1 May, less than analyst forecasts.

Crude supplies were expected to rise by over 2m barrels. The Energy Information Administration said gasoline stockpiles rose by 600,000 barrels less than forecasts of a 750,000 increase.

Oil prices were also given a boost by a strong performance among US equities and after two encouraging job reports sparked hopes that the US economy is starting to stabilise.

US light crude oil for June delivery rose $2.50 to close the session at $56.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since 14 November 2008.

Oil prices have been hovering around the $50 a barrel mark for sometime now, down sharply from last summers high of almost $150, but amid optimism about an economic recovery and hopes of an increase in future oil demand, futures have gained around 10% in the last month.

Have just been told that Rotterdam is at maximum capacity for storage & now tankers at anchor are being used as temporary storage facitities, due to very high crude stockpiles. I am amazed that the crude price continues to hold so high given the glut at the moment.

American driving season about to start plus hurricane season coming ?

Possible new quota's to be set by OPEC later this month.
2517

It seems the price of oil is being rigged once again like it was when it shot up to $147 last year must be the saudis and the russians making the chinese pay!

Oil finished higher in New York Thursday, but way off its best levels as traders grew nervous about economic recovery prospects ahead of todays US jobs data.

A better than expected weekly jobless claims figure had helped the black gold surge as much as 4% at one stage, up to $58.57 a barrel. New jobless claims fell to 601,000, their lowest level since January and down from 631,000 the previous week.

US light crude for June delivery ended the session 37 cents better at $56.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, still up 6% on the week so far.

On the metal markets, gold rose for the fourth day in a row, topping $920 an ounce at one stage as the European Central Banks decision to cut rates to an all-time low of 1% raised inflation fears.

Its accepted that gold offers protection against inflation. Gold for June delivery added $4.50 to $915.50 an ounce in New York

THANKS STAN.

..Not at all XST -):

US crude oil rose above $58 a barrel on Friday as traders welcomed signs that the US job market is starting to stabilise and Thursdays stress tests showed banks to be in better shape than previously thought.

US light crude oil for June delivery climbed $1.92 to settle at $58.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest settlement since 11 November.

Non-farm payrolls data showed 539,000 jobs went last month versus forecasts for 600,000 and a revised 699,000 for March, government figures showed.

A rally on Wall Street also underpinned demand for oil, as did other upbeat reports during the week on the housing market, consumer sentiment and manufacturing activity. There are renewed hopes that oil demand will make a recovery amid signs of economic improvement.

Among precious metals gold turned lower Friday as demand for safe haven flows faded. COMEX gold for June delivery fell 60 cents to settle at $914.90 an ounce.

US crude oil futures retreated Monday as profit takers moved in after prices hit a six-month high on Friday.

US light crude oil for June delivery dropped 13 cents to settle at $58.50 a barrel at the start of the week on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil prices also mirrored a decline on Wall Street as profit takers also took a chunk out of the financial sector following the recent rally.

On Friday oil prices settled at $58.63 a barrel, its highest settlement since November 2008 on optimism about economic recovery in the US following upbeat data.

However with economic news thin on the ground Monday, traders had little to feed this new optimism.

Oil rapidly approaching $60 today.