•NYMEX light sweet crude and ICE Brent futures were down over $3/barrel Friday, as the debate in the US over the proposed $700 billion bailout of financial markets dragged on, prolonging the uncertainty, market sources said. Political wrangling in Washington held up the proposed $700 billion bailout package for the US financial system despite earlier hopes that a deal was near, AFP reported.

•"It is just the movement of money, people are liquidating their positions. There is not a lot of hope out there--where is the extra demand going to come from?" a London-based broker said. "This plan is a rescue plan to prevent a collapse of the financial system and not a plan to boost the economy," analyst Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix said in a daily report. "The rescue plan's impact on the economy will be a lengthy process and will not immediately put the US driver back on the road," he added.

•Crude oil as well as equities jumped Thursday on signs a deal was near for the US government's plan to buy toxic mortgage-related assets from financial companies at the heart of the global credit crisis. However, discussions about the proposal were gridlocked late on Thursday, with Democrats accusing the Republicans of dragging their feet, AFP said.

Updated: September 26, 2008