Oil record causes global market carnage

Stocks everywhere from Wall Street to Shanghai fell sharply as crude oil hit a second consecutive record, climbing to $141.98 a barrel. Following on from yesterday’s 2.6% decline, the FTSE100 is currently 0.21% behind to 5506.60 in morning trading. European markets are also in need of a Friday rebound, after Paris’ CAC 40 and Frankfurt’s DAX both fell 2.4% yesterday. New York’s Dow Jones IA was punished by the record oil price as well as further banking write-down expectations. The blue chip index fell 3.03% to 11,453.42 on Thursday, the lowest close in nearly two years. The broader...