MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Crude record prices send global stock markets tumbling

Global stock markets have suffered a sell-off sparked by concerns about the global economy and crude oil prices which have hit a new record. New York's Dow Jones closed down 0.93%, or 106.9 points, at 11,346.51 as the cost of oil rose to a fresh high above $142 a barrel.

Losses were mirrored across the Atlantic, as share indexes in Paris and Frankfurt ended about 0.6% lower. But London's FTSE shrugged off earlier losses to register a 0.2% rise. Stock markets across Asia fell - earlier China's benchmark Shanghai index dropped by 5.3%, while India's Sensex index declined by 4.3%. Indexes in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea all shed more than 2%. In Latinamerica only Argentina's Merval and Brazil's Bovespa managed to inch up. Crude oil surged to a record, as Brent crude jumped to $142.13 a barrel, while New York light crude climbed as high as $142.26, on concerns about supply. The spikes followed Thursday's five dollar rise above the 140 dollar mark amid predictions from oil cartel Opec that prices could balloon further this summer. Crude oil is now nearly 50% more expensive than at the start of the year. The global stock market downturn began in New York on Thursday, when the Dow fell more than 3% to a two-year low. The fear on Wall Street is that rising prices and tighter finances will force Americans to curb spending and push the economy into recession. Traders brushed aside positive news about US consumers on Friday. The US economic stimulus package, which will hand out 107 billion to Americans this year, boosted household budgets and helped consumer spending rise 0.8% last month. But analysts are not convinced May's feel-good factor will last. "We have had very strong consumer spending, but most of the tax rebates went into savings, which might mean they are going to stay there," said Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics in NewYork. Investors also reacted to a string of bad news about key sectors of the US economy, while worries remain about the credit crunch and sub-prime fallout.