MW: Oil futures edge lower after last week's 8.4% tumble
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures edged lower early Monday after last week's steep decline, as modest dollar strength and falling global equity markets weighed on market sentiment.
Crude oil for November delivery fell 41 cents, or 0.6%, to $65.61 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
Oil futures tumbled 8.4% last week, posting the biggest weekly loss in more than two months.
"Weak equity markets in Asia and a firmer U.S. dollar are likely to put pressure on oil prices as the week starts," wrote analysts at Commerzbank in a note to clients.
European and Asian stocks were mostly lower on Monday. U.S. stock futures were trading flat, with some disappointment over a failure by the weekend G20 meeting to lay out specifics for banking system reforms and on some investor jitters that the market looks overextended. See Indications.
The U.S. economic calendar is empty on Monday. Investors are awaiting the Case-Shiller home price index for July and September consumer confidence data on Tuesday.
In the currency markets, the dollar traded mostly higher against its rivals, weighing on dollar-denominated commodities such as oil and gold.
The dollar index (DXY 76.95, +0.29, +0.38%) , which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, fell 0.2% to 76.931.
Elsewhere in the energy markets, October reformulated gasoline fell 2 cents, or 1.1%, to $1.60 a gallon and October heating oil dropped 1 cent, or 0.5%, to $1.67 a gallon.
Natural gas for October delivery fell 3 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.9550 per million British thermal units. The contract will expire at the end of trading on Monday.