U.S. Futures Appear Stable

U.S. air attacks on Libya appeared to have little effect Tuesday on American futures markets.

Oil, precious metals and interest rates probably would have been expected to be the most vulnerable.

However, analysts maintained that the rumbling of military action in Libya was a mere twitch by the time it reached the trading pits.

Crude oil futures were mostly lower on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with most of the focus on the meeting in Geneva of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Prices were bid up about 15 cents a barrel at one point on the rumor that there was a second attack under way in Libya, said Peter Beutel, an analyst in New York with Rudolf Wolff Energy. But prices came down again when that was denied by the Pentagon.

In Geneva, OPEC President Arturo Hernandez Grisanti said the ministers did not discuss the possibility of banning oil shipments to the United States because of the attacks on Libya. The ministers will take up the cartel’s main business when they meet again Wednesday.