Singapore’s Tapis Crude rose to a six months’ high of 121 US dollars a barrel. The Middle East accounts for a third of global oil supplies and there are concerns that any military strike on Syria could disrupt production across the region.

 

The US Congress is set for another showdown over the country’s finances. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is warning the government’s debt limit will be reached by the middle of October if congress doesn’t act quickly. 

 

And that would mean the US government could no longer borrow money and wouldn’t be able to pay public service salaries and pensions. The debt limit is kept at 16.5 trillion dollars and was last raised in January.

 

To the markets.

 

Stock markets fell overnight on those growing expectations of a military strike against Syria. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 fell two per cent. The Dow shed more than one per cent. London’s FTSE followed the US markets’ low as well. 

 

Looking at commodity prices.

 

West Texas Crude is trading at 109 US dollars a barrel. Tapis is at 121 US dollars a barrel. Gold is worth 1416 US dollars an ounce.

 

The Australian dollar is buying 89.8 US cents, 67 Euro cents and 58 pence sterling.