NEW YORK — Oil prices leaped more than $25 (U.S.) a barrel Monday — the biggest one-day price jump ever — as anxiety over the U.S. government's $700-billion bailout plan battered the dollar and touched off frenzied buying of safe-haven investments including crude.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery jumped as much as $25.45 to $130 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before falling back somewhat to trade at $123.77, up $19.22. The contract was set to expire at the end of the day, adding to the volatility; the October price began accelerating sharply in the last hour of regular trading.
Crude has gained about $40 in a dramatic four-day rally that has at least temporarily halted oil's steep two-month slide below $100. At this rate, crude is within striking distance of its all-time record of $147.27, reached in July.
The Nymex temporarily halted electronic crude oil trading after prices breached the $10 daily trading limit. Trading resumed seconds later after the daily limit was increased.
The huge rally was poised to shatter crude's previous one-day price jump of $10.75, set June 6.
Oil's sharp gains came as energy traders grappled with the implications of the government's proposed initiative to stem the U.S. financial crisis by absorbing billions of dollars of banks' bad mortgage-related securities. Anxiety over the plan also sent stocks sharply lower Monday; the credit markets were calmer than they were last week, but still showing the effects of investors' nervousness.
“They're going to have to continue auctioning off a whole lot of Treasurys to finance these projects, so the dollar is going to suffer,” said Matt Zeman, head trader at LaSalle Futures in Chicago. “Right now it's fear and anxiety driving people who want tangible assets.
