US recession fears raise oil prices

Investors around the world have been ploughing money into oil after a flurry of gloomy economic data showed plunging consumer confidence, soaring inflation and a near-9% fall in US house prices in the final quarter of last year. It has prompted a flight from the US dollar as investors expect more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. The euro is now worth 1.50 dollars for the first time, and the pound bought 1.94 dollars early last week but is now worth more than 1.99 dollars.