- Boeing announces intention to raise up to $25 bn
- Ferguson to leave Man Utd ambassador role as club cuts costs
- Oil prices tumble on easing Middle East fears
- Oil prices hit by easing Middle East fears, most Asian markets rise
- Hopes pinned on peace across Taiwan Strait after drills
- Belgian pathologist and literary star gives 'voice to the dead'
- East Timor fights new battles 25 years after independence vote
- Oil prices drop on easing fears over Middle East, most markets rise
- Reoxygenating oceans: startups lead the way in Baltic Sea
- King Charles III heads to Australia and Commonwealth meeting
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
Oil prices tumble on easing Middle East fears
Oil prices tumbled more than five percent Tuesday after a report said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden he would not strike Iran's crude or nuclear facilities.
Oil prices were also pushed down by worries about demand in China after Beijing failed to announce any new stimulus for its stuttering economy at a weekend briefing.
Major stock markets were mostly lower with declines in Shanghai, Hong Kong and London, while Frankfurt rose on a report showing reviving investor confidence.
Key US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, tumbled more than five percent to $69.71 per barrel.
European benchmark Brent North Sea crude also slumped by a similar amount to $73.34, before clawing back some losses.
Prices slid following a Washington Post report that Netanyahu had pledged to target Iran's military rather than its crude and nuclear sector.
Iran's missile attacks on Israel earlier this month sent crude prices soaring on fears that retaliatory strikes would disrupt oil supplies.
Tuesday's news has "alleviated some of that supply concern", said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"With the geopolitical risk-premium falling, prices are once again being led by the struggling demand picture," he added.
The International Energy Agency on Tuesday said global oil markets remain "adequately" supplied.
In its monthly update, the Paris-based agency said the end of a Libyan oil blockade, weaker demand and relatively modest output losses from hurricanes in the US Gulf Coast "have helped to steady markets".
- China woes -
Adding to the downward pressure on oil prices is concern that China, the world's largest importer of crude, is failing to reignite its ailing economy.
Investors have been left disappointed by a lack of details from China's finance minister Lan Fo'an over the size and scale of economic-stimulus measures aimed at kickstarting growth in the world's second-largest economy.
Weaker-than-expected Chinese trade and inflation data for September further highlighted the need for economic help.
"Everywhere you look, China is in desperate need for fiscal support, with very weak domestic demand alongside an economy facing deflationary pressures and softer global demand," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior strategist at National Australia Bank.
Hong Kong's stock market closed down nearly four percent Tuesday and Shanghai shed 2.5 percent, though there were gains in Tokyo as traders there returned from a three-day weekend.
London was down around midday despite official data showing that Britain's unemployment and wage growth had eased, boosting analyst expectations that the Bank of England would resume cutting interest rates next month.
Paris stocks dropped while Frankfurt rose ahead of an expected interest-rate cut Thursday from the European Central Bank as anxiety about inflation in the eurozone fades and concerns over sluggish growth mount.
German investor confidence rose more than expected in October, a survey showed Tuesday, as the prospect of lower interest rates provided a glimmer of hope to businesses in Europe's largest economy.
There were further record closes for the Dow and S&P 500 on Wall Street Monday, as the third-quarter reporting season gets underway.
- Key figures around 1030 GMT -
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 5.1 percent at $70.04 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 4.9 percent at $73.66 per barrel
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 8,246.51 points
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,542.68
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 19,557.50
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 3.7 percent at 20,318.79 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 2.5 percent at 3,201.29 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 39,910.55 (close)
New York - Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 43,065.22 points (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0909 from $1.0911 on Monday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3088 from $1.3060
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.07 yen from 149.74 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.00 pence from 83.51 pence
C.Smith--CPN