Light sweet crude for July delivery settled at US$68.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and July Brent crude futures on London's ICE Futures exchange steadied at US$68.08 a barrel.
It appears that after yo-yoing for a month, crude futures have steadied at US$69 a barrel, for now. The factors exerting upward pressure on prices are concerns about possible supply disruptions from hurricanes and the diplomatic standoff between the West and Iran. A slowdown in global economic growth and fears that rising interest rates could accelerate this trend, are weighing prices down.
Concerns over Iran appeared to outweigh expectations that oil and related stock levels will increase or drop only marginally when the U.S. Department of Energy publishes its weekly report of supplies on Wednesday.
21-Jun-06 
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