Crude Crashes Bulls' Party

After making headlines and dictating the action on Wall Street this year, oil wasn't going to be left out of the year-end party. And, back above $60 a barrel Monday, the recently low-flying commodity looks ready to play the role of crasher.

With winter finally felt across the Northeast, crude futures topped the psychologically key $60 level on Monday, before settling at $59.92 per barrel. Other fuels also rose, with heating oil adding 2 cents to $1.79 a gallon and natural gas rising 18 cents to $13.75 per million British thermal units.

The strength was enough to depress sentiment for stocks, weakening a year-end rally that already began to show signs of fatigue last week. Exxon Mobil's (XOM Quote) 0.7% gain was not enough to lift the Dow Jones Industrial Average out of the red. It finished down 42.50 points, or 0.4%, to 10,835. ...