Oil Spill: Crude Oil Falls Under $79

Benchmark crude on the NYMEX slides $1.82 to $78.68 a barrel.

Author:
David Moss
Publish date:
Oct 26, 2009 2:22 PM EDT

Benchmark crude on the NYMEX slides $1.82 to $78.68 a barrel.

Updated with recent oil price and stock quotes.

NEW YORK (

) -- Crude futures soured in the afternoon, plunging below $79 as reports cited a newly emboldened dollar dragging on Texas tea.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery gave up $1.82 to settle at $78.68 a barrel on Monday afternoon. On Friday, the front-month contract slipped 69 cents to settle at $80.50. But that move down came during the same week that saw the price go as high as $82, its highest mark in a year.

With

renewed dollar strength and slumping commodities in the background, the financial services sector helped to pace a selloff on the major indexes, as the

KBW Bank Index

(BKX)

was down 4.1% in the afternoon.

With crude oil taking a turn, equities among the oil majors went lower in concert.

Chevron

(CVX) - Get Free Report

ConocoPhillips

(COP) - Get Free Report

and

Marathon Oil

(MRO) - Get Free Report

closed lower, down 1.6%, 2.4% and 1.6% each.