US Market Drops As Oil Price Bounce Higher

US investors are once again uneasy on the current trend of US stocks, as it earlier recorded a drop due to the soaring oil prices. Oil price on Wednesday traded at $138.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Would this mean another economic slowdown for US?

“There are not a lot of positive things you can point to right now,” said Michael Binger, portfolio manager at Thrivent Investment Management in Minneapolis. “We have commodity prices higher, inflation up, the prospect of the Fed raising interest rates instead of lowering, a worldwide slowdown and an economic slowdown in the U.S.”

Mr. Binger said that one weak spot on Wall Street — the financial sector — was faced with a new worry of higher interest rates while still trying to navigate a tight credit market and fallout from bad bets on home loans.

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Energy Ranks Up Market

Energy market in Australia has helped it share escalates positively due to positive information from US regional banks. Despite high oil prices, Australia share has gain points yesterday afternoon.



Other highlights included strong production numbers from Oxiana this morning, which buoyed the resources sector despite base metals prices being weaker overnight.

''Also, Rio Tinto's quarterly production was as expected, with aluminium production up, boosted by the first full quarter of production from the Alcan acquisition assets." said Albert Turner of Global Options.

Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum gained $2.53, or 4.54%, to $58.30, Oil Search firmed 6 cents to $5.05 but Santos bucked the trend, dropping 8 cents to $15.52.

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