Crude oil rises to record $144.53 a barrel in New York

Crude oil rose to a new all-time high of $144.44 per barrel and may well flirt with the US$150 mark. US stocks had another bad day overnight, as did markets in Europe and other emerging economies. Asia too is weak this morning. FIIs continue to sell. The only positive is that SP could bail the Government out on the Indo-US nuclear deal.