Out of interest, does anyone have any opinions on the so called Petro-Dollar warfare that has been waged by America in recent years? I.E - the fact that the $ supremecy in the oil trade was threatend in 2000 by Iraq changing its oil exchange currency to the Euro? Also Im not sure whether Iran has actually introduced its IOB, or whether it is still pending, but it seems to coincide with the increased prominence of fears of WMD's etc. Im not saying that this is the case, but just wondered what some other people thought about this subject, particularly some Americans as being a Brit we don't really get to gauge the opinion from over the pond. Chris.
My own opinion (from across the pond) is that the amping up of the rhetoric has less to do with anyone switching to the EURO and more to do with Iran's president making public statements that Israel will cease to exist and America will be brought to it's knees while working feverishly on enriching uranium.
The rhetoric regarding the switch from using the dollar to the euro for oil sales should mark a major long-term top in the euro. You can't expect to have an extended bull market when everyone is so bullish on one thing and bearish on the other. We'll see what happens.
Here is the paper which discusses your question. http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/petrov/2006/0120.html