LONDON (SHARECAST) - Oil prices slumped 2% on Monday, despite last week’s surprisingly upbeat jobs report, after Ben Bernanke’s cautionary comments about the sustainability of the US economic recovery.
US crude for January delivery settled $1.54 lower at $73.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Bernanke said that of course US interest rates would have to be raised at some point, but underlined the fact that this could be some time away and the economy still faces "headwinds."
Concern about weak demand and fundamentals also pressured crude prices on Monday.
Among precious metals gold futures fell again as the firmer dollar eroded the yellow metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. COMEX gold for February delivery fell $5.50 to settle at $1,164 an ounce. Earlier in the session gold prices fell over $26.
Last week gold hit a record high of $1,218.30 an ounce but as the dollar turned direction and investors mulled Friday’s better than expected job figures gold fell 4% on Friday and continued to lose some of its sparkle on Monday.
Elsewhere silver futures fell 14 cents to $18.37 an ounce while March copper lost 5 cents to $3.19 a pound.
