Oil is set to break into the $30 range
Don't forget that oil was $140 a barrel a few months ago.
"VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices plummeted Friday as the already battered market reacted to unexpectedly high U.S. unemployment figures -- the latest dramatic evidence of recession in the world's largest market for crude.The damage to the economy by the financial turmoil is much bigger than the market initially thought," said Tetsu Emori, commodity markets fund manager at ASTMAZ Futures Co. in Tokyo. "The economic data now is much worse than what we expected a few months ago."
Light, sweet crude for January delivery was down $1.43 at $42.24 a barrel -- nearly a 4 year low -- in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe after going as low as $42.05 on release of the jobs statistics. The contract fell $3.12 overnight to settle at $43.67, the lowest since January 2005.
