NEW YORK --- Amid new economic concerns stirred by the forced sale of Bear Stearns Cos., oil prices fell sharply today.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell $3.08 to $107.13 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the AP reported. Overnight, prices reached as high as $111.80 before dropping as low as $105.11 in early-morning Nymex trading.

JPMorgan yesterday agreed to bail out Bear Stearns by purchasing the investment bank in a Fed-backed deal worth $236.2 million. JP Morgan will pay only $2 per share, despite the fact that Bear shares closed at $30 a share on Friday.

Investors' confidence was also shaken today when the Federal Reserve released data that showed the country's industrial output declined by 0.5 percent in February. That represents the biggest drop since October, AP reported.

Read more about Oil Prices
0 Comments