Higher oil prices seen as unlikely to bring US crash

The high price of oil is unlikely to affect consumer confidence to the point of creating a hard landing for the US economy, according to Jerome Booth, head of research at Ashmore Investment Management. Booth expects to see prices rise to $40 a barrel. He believes consumer confidence could fall if high oil prices continue but he doubts this will be a major issue. Tim O'Dell, fund manager at Investec, says: "We are not concerned about the threat of a hard landing in the US. Interest rates are unlikely to increase further because there are signs that manufacturing has slowed. Central banks ...