The price of oil has continued its upward march to a new high of US$53.40 a barrel. Strikes at refineries in Nigeria and Norway have helped push oil futures 20 per cent higher in the last month. But it's the fundamental supply and demand dynamic that continues to drive the price. The US stock market bore the brunt of investor uncertainty on Friday when figures showed employment growth for September had slowed. It once again raised concerns about the strength of the US economy less than a month before the presidential election.

Wall Street's pharmaceuticals stocks took a hammering during the week. Merck shareholders have been left feeling exposed after reports the drug Vioxx may have caused 27,000 heart attacks and seven deaths before it was pulled off the market. And questions have also been raised about the safety of similar products made by Johnson & Johnson and the world's biggest drug company, Pfizer. It was all too much for the major indices, which closed lower on Friday. The Dow Jones surrendered earlier gains, shedding 70 points, the S&P 500 was weaker and on the Nasdaq - for every stock that rose, two fell.

Over the week the US market was down almost 1 per cent in value. The London FTSE was up by the same amount. The German Dax gained 0.5 per cent. And Japan's Nikkei index rallied more than 3 per cent.