Gold, oil, diamonds, metals: commodities have been booming. But as prices hit record highs, is the bubble about to burst? Turmoil in financial markets has, some analysts say, pushed prices well above fair market value across energy, metals and agricultural goods as investors take flight to supposed ”safe plays”.
A global equities sell-off gathered speed on Friday as nervous investors were hit by growing United States recession fears, a plunging dollar and record oil prices, dealers said. European markets fell after sharp losses earlier in Asia and overnight on Wall Street following more bad news on the US subprime home-loan crisis.
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/ 22 January 2008
Stocks plummeted across the world on Monday amid fears of a global recession, with markets in Europe suffering their biggest one-day losses since the September 11 attacks on the United States. Dealers said a major new plan by President George Bush to prevent a United States recession was not enough to offset the stream of bad news from banks.
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/ 23 October 2007
British energy giant BP, reeling from fatal safety errors and a boardroom scandal, said on Tuesday that third-quarter profits slumped owing to lower output, weak United States gas prices and refinery outages. Net profit on a replacement-cost basis plunged 44,5% from a year earlier to $3,87-billion in the three months to September.