Just a LITTLE upward pressure on the price of oil
Although I have to tell you, people who buy gold as a hedge don't REALLY think things are going to collapse. The value of an inert lump of shiny metal is purely a social phenomenon and pretty low in my personal estimate.
Dollar Under Pressure on Iraq Violence
By Vidya Ranganathan, 4/7/2004
TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar came under pressure on Thursday as escalating violence in Iraq and the fear of further militant attacks drove investors into safe-haven currencies and pushed up the price of gold.
The euro was at $1.2188 up nearly two cents from Tuesday's lows amid reports that three days of fighting in Iraq had claimed the lives of 35 American and allied soldiers and at least 200 Iraqis. It was around $1.2175 in late U.S trade.
Markets feared repercussions after the U.S. military bombed a mosque compound in the Iraqi town of Falluja and following a recent audio tape from an al Qaeda supporter exhorting followers to attack U.S. forces in Iraq.
"I can only see rising violence in the Middle East. That is one of my reasons for believing that it is not a question of if but when something will happen in the U.S. or U.K.," said Lee Boon Keng, economist with DBS Bank in Singapore.
"Certainly Iraq has gone out of control."
