Crude oil prices rocket more than 10 dollars, sending stocks plunging nearly 400 points

Traders at the New York Stock Exchange.


A trader is seen in the crude oil feature pit of the New York Mercantile Exchange in New York June 6, 2008.

（CCTV 06-07-2008 09:53）Crude oil prices rocketed more than 10 US dollars on Friday, approaching 140 dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, US stocks plunged, causing the Dow to drop nearly 400 points.

Oil reached a record of over 139 dollars a barrel on Friday. It closed at 138.54 dollars.

It was the biggest single-day price increase in the history of the New York Mercantile Exchange crude contract.

The dollar weakened on data showing the US economy lost jobs for a fifth straight month and the unemployment rate hit its highest level in more than three years.

Crude prices were also boosted by Morgan Stanley's report predicting oil prices would hit 150 dollars by early July.

Sam Stovall, Senior Equities Analyst, Standard & Poor's, said, "I think that now that we are seeing energy prices remain stubbornly high, consumer confidence being at a 15 year low and that also now with employment falling more than people had anticipated, that as a result I think investors are now trying to re-gauge what kind of a forecast they can have for this recession and what it is likely to do to the economy in general and to other sectors of the economy - in particular retailers."

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than three percent, renewing fears the US economy is threatened by 1970's-style stagflation.

It was the Dow's biggest decline since February.