Reuters Oil spike to last through 2008: OPEC president Monday March 10, 4:47 am ET ALGIERS (Reuters) - Oil prices will stay at current high levels for the rest of this year due to speculation and geopolitical tensions, Algerian state media on Monday reported OPEC President Chakib Khelil as saying. Prices could retreat in 2009 with a recovery of the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets following the election of a new U.S. president, and as fundamentals reassert themselves as major market forces, he was reported as saying by government newspaper El Moudjahid and state news agency APS. "Just like the current surge in oil markets, the (world economic) crisis, will last until the end of the year," he was quoted as saying by El Moudjahid. "The oil market will stay above $100 during the current financial year, according to the assessment of Mr Khelil," APS said in a report on his remarks to Algerian reporters on Sunday.
House prices set to fall by 7% in next two years as credit squeeze bites Goldman Sachs said it expected house prices to fall by 5 per cent this year and a further 2 per cent in 2009. The bank had originally predicted a decline of 3 per cent in 2008 and no further change the year after, but became more pessimistic after economic warning signs.
Video Interview with George Magnus, UBS senior economic adviser with the Financial Times - Full Interview, read the transcript: George Magnus of UBS Published: February 25 2008 14:18 | Last updated: February 25 2008 14:18 A transcript of the FT’s video interview with George Magnus, UBS senior economic adviser, conducted by Gillian Tett, global markets editor. They discussed: likely total losses from the credit crisis as high as a trillion dollars; the inability of monetary and fiscal policy alone to solve the problems; the likelihood of major regulatory and legislative changes; and a possible US housing bailout by October.
