•Crude futures were slightly weaker in European morning trading Thursday, down from their all-time high settlements as a small bout of profit-taking occurred during a quiet start to the session, brokers said. "It's pretty quiet here with some small profit-taking," a broker said. "It started like this yesterday and then became all confusing."

•The rally Wednesday, which ignored the stock data, was attributed to yet further weakness in the US dollar, which so far Thursday has sunk even lower, to below 72 points on the dollar index. Further to this the euro hit yet another high against the greenback of $1.5629 in Thursday trading.

•Many analysts have cited hedge funds as a reason for the current high oil price, but some sources feel that the spending spree is perhaps coming to an end. "I think that the stats were bearish and at some point some of these funds are going to be forced to liquidate [their long positions]. I think the doom and gloom merchants may soon have their day," a broker said.

Updated: March 13, 2008