Oil rises in New York after reports that Iran may face US attack
New York, USA: With reports once again circulating that the US may be considering military strikes against Iran, thereby disrupting supplies from the world's fourth largest producer, crude oil rose in New York. Crude is now within $4 of the $70.85 a barrel record reached in August after Hurricane Katrina stopped output in the Gulf of Mexico.

Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as 41 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $67.80 a barrel, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $67.63 at 9:35 a.m. in Singapore, 27 percent higher than a year ago.

The May contract fell 55 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $67.39 a barrel on April 7 after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it will likely maintain output through 2006 while processing bottlenecks and production risks keep prices high. It closed at a two-month high of $67.94 the day before.

According to a Washington Post report the US is using these threats to put pressure on Iran to comply with the United Nations' demands.

Oil reached a post-Katrina high of $69.20 on Jan. 23 after Iran said it would resist any moves by the U.K., U.S., France and Germany to refer the dispute over nuclear research to the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, Nigeria, OPEC's sixth-largest producer, may next month restore oil output lost to militant attacks since February. Royal Dutch Shell Plc has been losing about 455,000 barrels day, almost a quarter of the nation's output, since it halted output after assaults on oil terminals and pipelines in the western Niger River delta.
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JP Morgan Chase and Bank of New York exchange assets
New York: JP Morgan Chase has moved ahead on its strategy to focus on retail banking by agreeing to a $3bn asset swap with Bank of New York (BoNY), the oldest bank in the US. The deal involves JPMorgan taking control of BoNY's 338 retail branches in the New York area in exchange for its corporate trust unit and a cash payment of $150m.

The deal will allow Jp Morgan to maintain its leading position in retail banking in the New York area, where new entrants such as Bank of America and Wachovia have been turning on the heat in recent years.

The Bank of New York, founded by Alexander Hamilton, the first US Treasury secretary, in 1784, had already been considering an exit from the retail banking business for several months.

Corporate trust involves managing debt issues on behalf of clients such as companies and local governments by providing services such as processing interest payments and representing investors in defaults. Under the terms of the deal, JPMorgan's corporate trust division, which represents debt worth $5,000bn, was valued at $2.8bn. BoNY's retail banking arm was valued at $3.1bn.
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EU, Asian ministers express concern over oil prices
Vienna, Austria: European Union and Asian finance ministers Sunday issued a buoyant assessment of global economic growth but said rising protectionism and high oil prices remained major concerns.

The Austrian finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser told reporters after the two-day meeting in Vienna that growth rates were up in Europe and Asia as both regions reaped the benefits of globalization. While EU economies were set to grow by 2.5 per cent in 2006, Asia was expected to record a 6.5-per-cent growth rate, he said.

But Grasser said that while high oil prices had not so far had a major impact on growth in Europe, proving the "resilience" of the global economy, oil market developments must be kept under scrutiny and efforts made to strengthen energy security.

Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters that 2006 would be "another good year" for East Asia. But downside risks in the region included high oil prices, the threat of a human avian-flu pandemic and uncertainty about long-term interest rates.
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