Oil Declines

Standard & Poor’s cut France and Austria one level to AA+ from AAA last week and said they face the risk of further reductions. Spain and Italy were also among nine nations downgraded, while Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg kept their AAA ratings and were put on negative watch.

Crude oil for February delivery declined 0.4 percent to $98.70 a barrel in New York on Jan. 13, the lowest settlement since Dec. 21, after two European Union officials said an embargo on Iranian crude imports may be postponed for six months. The contracts dropped 2.8 percent last week. Gulf Arab oil exporters, including the U.A.E. and Qatar, supply about a fifth of the world’s oil.

Emirates Integrated retreated 1.4 percent to 2.85 dirhams, the lowest since Dec. 13. The U.A.E. phone company known as Du may report a 69 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit to 284 million dirhams.

From: Bloomberg