Ben Bernake, Federal Reserve Chairman, stated that the U.S. economy is facing “significant” risks to growth, while the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries lowered its forecast for world oil-demand growth for 2008 and 2009. in apart chances John Kilduff, an analyst at futures brokerage MF Global, said “Signs of economic contraction and financial-market malaise are [...]

After the Federal Reserve chairman sounded bleak notes on the U.S. economy, and world supplies loosened a bit, Crude-oil futures sank more than $6 a barrel Tuesday. After the U.S. opened its Strategic Petroleum Reserve at the onset of the first Gulf War.Light, sweet crude for August delivery settled down $6.44, or 4.4%, at $138.74 [...]

The federal government formed an interagency task force to assess developments in oil and other commodity markets.
It is made up of staff from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the departments of Treasury, Energy and Agriculture. The task force will examine oil supply and demand factors, investor [...]

Oil prices fell sharply, dropping below $124 a barrel, as demand concerns grew and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated that more interest-rate cuts are unlikely. Bernanke’s comments sent the dollar higher and raised questions about the chances of oil reaching new highs in the short term.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $3.45 to [...]

Wall Street tumbled Tuesday after oil prices spiked to a new record above $129 a barrel and a government report raised investors’ concerns about the impact of inflation on consumer spending. The Dow Jones industrials fell nearly 200 points.
Crude jumped after OPEC’s president was quoted as saying his organization won’t raise its output before its [...]