futures under pressure early monday amid spike in
Slippery slope for stocks Futures under pressure early Monday amid spike in global oil prices, weakness in Europe; dollar mixed. June 5, 2006: 6:10 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - U.S. futures were seeing red early Monday amid ominous words from Iran's leadership over the weekend which caused a spike in global oil prices and weakness in Europe.
Early Monday, futures pointed to a lower open at the start of trading.
U.S. crude prices climbed a dollar to over $73 on Monday after Iran hinted it might use oil flows as a weapon in its nuclear dispute with the West and problems at U.S. refineries spurred worries over fuel supplies. NYMEX light crude for July delivery traded 95 cents up at $73.28 a barrel, after hitting a high of $73.45. The market had gained $1.99 on Friday
On Sunday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni, warned the United States that any "misbehavior" directed at Iran would serve to disrupt Gulf energy shipments.
Further, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that OPEC linchpin Saudi Arabia cut oil exports in April due to a drop in refinery demand.
Major markets in Europe werelower in early trading after last week's soft U.S. jobs report heightened concerns of an economic slowdown. A much weaker jobs report Friday suggested that the Federal Reserve may stop raising interest rates, but also raised some concern on Wall Street that the economy may be headed for a downturn.
Major markets in Asia were mixed Monday, hurt by weakness in Japan. Hong Kong and Australia were trading higher.
Treasury prices were unchanged with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note steady at the 4.99 percent level reached late Friday. The euro hit a one-year high against the dollar Monday but the greenback traded slightly higher versus the yen.
In corporate news, a new study over the weekend showed Pfizer (Research)'s anti-cancer drug, Sutent, shrank tumors and stopped them from spreading in the lungs and kidneys of patients.
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