Crude plummets in New York

27/04/2009

Despite a positive finish to the end of the week, crude futures have plummeted during early trading this morning (April 27th), with the commodity falling to $48.87 (£33.55) by 05:38 Eastern Time, down $2.68.

By the close of trading on Friday, crude contracts had risen $1.93, with gains also seen in heating oil futures.

The falls this morning were seen across most commodities trading on the exchange and were also evident on global stock markets. High-risk stocks have been particularly hard hit by fears about the spread of a swine flu which has killed more than 100 people in Mexico.

"The threat of the pandemic will add further weakness to global trade - we saw with SARS tangible percentage points knocked off the index and that was in a buoyant time," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment Management, speaking to Reuters.