DESPITE SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT OIL MARKET GIVES LITTLE CAUSE FOR COMFORT

Despite some improvement in spot crude prices towards the end of last week, the general state of the market gives little cause for comfort among the oil exporters. Spot prices are still some $1.50 to $2.00/B below official OPEC levels and, from past experience, this may be reckoned a dangerous sort of gap.

However, one bullish factor is that the overall volume of OPEC production does not appear to be out of line with...