Warnings of possible terror attacks on major financial institutions in the United States triggered selling of stocks in favour of the relative safety of bonds on Monday while oil prices eased from record highs. U.S. light crude hit a peak at $43.92 a barrel on fears about global supplies, the highest level since oil futures were launched on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983, before easing to $43.62. Stock futures indicated a weaker start on Wall Street. Security concerns rippled across markets. Washington said intelligence signalled a possible al Qaeda attack and declared a high-level threat alert for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the New York Stock Exchange and other financial institutions such as Citigroup and Prudential Financial. "The general theme is one of risk aversion," said Adam Cole, senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets. "The terror alert in Washington and New York means we are seeing flows out of equities into bonds and out of the dollar into the Swiss franc and other currencies with strong external positions." Oil prices have been stoked by concerns over possible interruptions to supplies from major Russian oil firm YUKOS, which faces possible bankruptcy as courts seek to enforce payment a $3.4 billion tax bill. --More 1807 Local Time 1507 GMT
