Oil Drops Below $79 Following Consumer Confidence Report
Oil fell more than $1 Tuesday to below $79 a barrel following a report that showed declining consumer confidence, Bloomberg reported.
Oil fell $1.30 to close at $78.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following the consumer confidence report released earlier in the day by the New York-based Conference Board.
Crude futures had finished the trading day Monday at $80.16 a barrel, topping $80 for the first time in six weeks.
World oil demand is projected to rise 1.9% this year over last year, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said earlier this month.
Demand last year fell 1.5% from 2008, according to IEA figures, Bloomberg said.
Diesel’s national average price jumped 7.6 cents Monday to $2.832 a gallon, the first increase in six weeks, the Department of Energy reported.
