English
The price of oil has been fluctuating strongly over the past year and the occurrence of the ongoing financial crisis caused a severe trend shift. Oil was quoted below 100 USD/barrel at the end of last year, reached an all-time high of 147.27 USD/barrel in July 2008 and then dropped to a bit over 60 USD/barrel because of the financial crisis.
The companies whose business is dependant on oil products and whose financing costs surged to unbearable levels because of the financial crisis are now having a breath of fresh air coming from much more affordable fuel. Nonetheless, individual oil consumers can hardly feel any benefit of the cheaper price of crude oil.
The chain of bankruptcies among banks started in the same period as the all-time high price of oil. Because of the bankruptcies, consumers started losing their jobs, and the price of oil decreased as a result of smaller demand.Nevertheless, it is important to remember that the price of oil and the financial crisis are not directly linked to the same causes. It is their effects that intersect, because of the interaction between interest rates and the exchange rate (a weaker dollar), as reflected in the chart on page 2.
Euro
Dolar SUA
Franc elveţian
Liră sterlină
Gram de aur
