•Crude futures moved higher on Friday and even traded above $90/b, extending gains seen during Thursday's late session following news of a US stimulus plan worth $150 billion for the economy to fight against recessionary tendencies. The upswing in global equity and petroleum futures markets came despite a relatively bearish set of US stock data, which--apart from a surprisingly heavy build for gasoline--showed little unexpected news and resembled the previous week's set of data.

•World stock markets rose further on Friday as a quick agreement by US leaders on a stimulus package eased concerns over the fallout from a weakening US economy. "The worst period appears to be ending for now. The mood of panic has been fading," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, an analyst at Cosmo Securities.

• Turning back to oil markets, the US EIA reported a 2.3 mil barrel build for crude stocks, while gasoline stocks increased by an unexpected 5 mil barrels. Crude stocks at WTI's delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 800,000 barrels and distillate stocks were down 1.3 mil barrels.

Updated: January 25, 2008