Oil prices fall on exchanges — Brent down 2.3% below $104 a barrel

Crude oil prices have fallen sharply on exchanges, dropping 2.3 percent on the New York exchange to $103.38 a barrel of Brent. The decline follows a tense week, when fears that a possible U.S. war with Iran would block oil exports from the Middle East had pushed the price close to $110 a barrel.

Despite the drop, oil remains far above the $72-a-barrel level quoted at the start of the summer, before tensions with Iran escalated into open war. Middle Eastern oil exporters had raised production precisely for this scenario and, according to data so far, oil flows from the region have continued without interruption.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate for the first time in more than three years and signaled it could raise it again to fight inflation. One of the board members, Kevin Warsh, referred to “geopolitical factors” — a clear allusion to the conflict with Iran and its effect on oil prices.

Wall Street welcomed the decision: the S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent, the Dow Jones gained 213 points and the Nasdaq 1.4 percent, while the yield on 10-year bonds fell from 5.01 to 4.95 percent.

Source: Danas