COMMODITIES PRICES yesterday fell across the board, with oil tumbling below $75 a barrel, amid mounting investor concern that recent government and central bank actions to unfreeze credit markets will fail to avert a global recession.
The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global benchmark for commodity prices, yesterday fell to a fresh 22-month low of 288.70 points, down almost 40 per cent from July's all-time high.
Opec warned of "dramatically worsening conditions" in the credit market and a "negative impact on the real economy", while Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining firms, signalled that Chinese commodities demand was weakening. The cartel said that even if governments were successful in calming equity markets and unfreezing credit markets in the near future, "the fallout on the real economy from the financial market headwinds is expected to be considerable".
The warning came as oil prices in New York dropped below the $75 a barrel level for the first time since September 2007. Nymex November West Texas Intermediate hit an intraday low of $74.57. - ( Financial Timesservice)
