VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Asian shares sagged on Thursday after a retreat on Wall Street and falling crude oil prices rekindled investor anxiety over slowing global growth, while a mixed picture on Chinese manufacturing failed to impress markets.

Even the wildest markets nearly always draw opportunists looking for profitable ways to play them. But recent volatility has hit such a level that the strongest-nerved are thinking twice.

General Electric Co (GE.N) posted higher quarterly net income on Friday, helped by sales of its jet engines and oil and gas equipment.

Saudi Arabia effectively started a global oil price war this month aimed at quickly denting U.S. oil output. Slowing a U.S. drilling boom, however, could take more than a year.

Still haunted by its failed attempt to prevent a steep drop in oil prices by slashing production by almost three quarters in the 1980s, the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is determined not to make the same mistake again.

As Iraqi militants advanced on Baghdad with M-16s and stolen tanks in June, most investors and traders in the jittery oil markets believed oil prices would spike even higher.

European stocks reversed early losses on Monday as airline shares gained after crude oil prices fell to near a four-year low, though broad dollar weakness and a jump in gold signaled investor concern over global economic health.

World oil prices are set to fall further, extending a months-long rout as Saudi Arabia is unlikely to make deep enough production cuts to erase a growing surplus of supply, according to Gary Ross, chief executive of PIRA Energy Group.

An unusual disconnect has emerged in the U.S. oil market, with headline futures slumping to levels below $90 a barrel even as traders in the physical crude market report surprisingly robust demand and strong pricing.

The dollar rose above 110 yen for the first time in six years and held near a two-year peak against the euro on Wednesday, as investors added to bets that U.S. data will drive the Federal Reserve to tighten policy.

Airlines in Asia are stepping up jet fuel hedge volumes after oil prices fell below $100 a barrel this month, with some locking in fuel purchases as far out as 2016, suggesting airlines see oil prices bottoming.

Asian shares slipped on Tuesday as a periodic bout of angst over China combined with the U.S. dollar's recent meteoric run to pile pressure on commodity prices.

The Rockefellers, who made their vast fortune on oil, and other philanthropies and high-wealth individuals on Monday will announce pledges to divest a total of $50 billion from fossil fuel investments.

Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) said on Monday it would buy U.S. oilfield equipment maker Dresser-Rand Group Inc (DRC.N) for $7.6 billion, in a move that would significantly boost the German company's oil and gas business in North America.

A looming gas glut worldwide is prompting Japanese and Indian firms to resell to European traders and utilities big chunks of U.S. liquefied natural gas they had committed to buy several years ago, signaling tempered enthusiasm for U.S. energy.