As If Predictions Aren't Foolish Enough

Bloomberg:

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil dropped from a record on speculation that Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, will keep meeting demand for its oil after the death yesterday of King Fahd.

"The market has realized there isn't going to be much alteration to Saudi oil policy,'' said Christopher Bellew, a broker at Bache Financial Ltd. in London. Yesterday ``was a knee-jerk reaction.''

Then again, Auntie Beeb can alway seem to find the cloud in the silver lining:

Oil prices have hit new records after the death of Saudi Arabia's king and amid concerns over refineries and Iran.

Analysts said concerns over the Saudi succession, as well as US refinery outages and tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions had upset the market.