Bloomberg: Crude Oil Falls From Two Year High on Speculation China May Raise Interest Rates

Crude oil declined from a two year high in New York on speculation China will raise interest rates, damping growth in the world’s biggest energy consumer. Crude fell for the first time in three days and was set for a weekly drop. Equities slid on signs China is preparing to increase the cost of borrowing to curb inflation and the dollar traded near a six week high against the euro as Group of 20 leaders hold an emergency meeting amid concern that Europe’s debt crisis is worsening.

“For the time being $90 is going to be a very strong resistance level; above that, it’s too expensive,” said Andy Sommer, a senior analyst at EGL AG in Dietikon, Switzerland. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about Chinese monetary policy. If they tighten further, that has implications for the oil market.”

Crude for December delivery fell as much as $2.30, or 2.6 percent, to $85.51 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $86.08 at 1:15 p.m. London time. Yesterday, the contract rose to $88.63, the highest price since Oct. 9, 2008. Brent crude for December settlement fell as much as $2.16, or 2.4 percent, to $86.65 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. The contract expires Nov. 15. The more actively traded January futures fell $1.59 to $87.51.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index retreated 1.4 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell as much as 1.8 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slid 1.5 percent. China’s inflation rate rose to the fastest in two years last month, fueling speculation an interest-rate increase is imminent. “People are betting on the Chinese rates and the discussions in the G-20 meeting are responsible for the current heavy selloff,” said Tetsu Emori, a commodity fund manager at Astmax Co. in Tokyo.......Read the entire article.


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