FINANCIAL MARKETS : COMMODITIES : Oil Prices Slump Despite OPEC Pact
From Times Wire Services
Prices of oil futures fell sharply on the New York Mercantile Exchange despite an OPEC agreement to cut the cartel’s total crude oil output by 1.45 million barrels a day.
Analysts said the decline in prices signaled the return of traders who had taken to the sidelines during the emergency meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Geneva and who see little hope in the near term for an easing of the crude oil glut.
On other commodity markets, grain and soybean futures settled mostly lower; copper futures fell; precious metals advanced, and livestock and meat futures were mixed.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures settled 37 to 74 cents lower in New York, with the contract for delivery in June at $17.99 a barrel.
