Down Day for Oil Prices

Crude prices took a break from their recent ascent Tuesday, declining in New York after Goldman Sachs said it would advise taking profits.

Oil ended the last session at a record price above $93 a barrel, the latest in a string of new all-time highs. Recently, though, crude for December delivery was down $1.86 to $91.67.

At the same time, reformulated gasoline was losing 3 cents to $2.30 a gallon, and heating oil was weaker by 1 cent to $2.45 a gallon. Natural gas went against the trend and rose 12 cents to $8.09 per million British thermal units.

Stocks in the energy sector were sharply lower. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Oil Service Sector Index was dropping 2.5%, and the Amex Oil Index was slumping 2.4%.

Oil-services firms Halliburton (HAL Quote) and Schlumberger (SLB Quote) both lost more than 2%, as did refiner Valero (VLO Quote).

Integrated majors ConocoPhillips (COP Quote) and Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote) were down 1.7% and 1.9%, respectively, and Chevron (CVX Quote) gave back nearly 3%.