Crude falls to 7-week low at $124.41/bbl

Douglas Cliggot , Dover Management CIO said, "Oil has played a big part in upward pressure on inflation and measured inflation is important on P/E multiples of stocks, what people want to pay for it. The USD 20 per barrel move in oil is fantastic but we're still very elevated in terms of oil and other commodities when I put together upward inflation pressure and downward earnings - that's why we aren't out of the woods yet."

James Crandell, Lehman Brothers said, "There's a bull case to be made in oil. It's strange that oil is off its June peaks as July and August are seasonally stronger months for oil prices. We've got much of the hurricane season to come; Iran-Israel conflict won't be settled like November when a new US President is elected. But gasoline demand hasn't turned positive as much as expected. So fundamentals are weighing on the market."

Hugh Johnson, Johnson Illington Advisors said, "Global supply and demand conditions are moving in a direction that requires higher oil prices, but nothing in the region of USD 145 or USD 125 per barrel. It was clearly a bubble driven by speculators and large institutional investors in the US. I wouldn't be surprised if oil comes down to 90-100 dollars. When I crunch the numbers, I come up with global demand-supply conditions requiring USD 83-85 per barrel.

Madhu Kela , Head-Equity Investments, Reliance MF , said, "If not the top, we have definitely seen the topmost movement in crude. Everything indicating, the speculative positions coming down, demand destruction happening, OPEC countries making more noise for more production, in the next two years we will have 3-4 billion barrels come into the market on a daily basis. Crude is purely indicating that the toppish movement is there."