Oil dips below $37 on bad US news

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By GEORGE JAHN -

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — More bad economic news from the U.S. sent oil prices tumbling Wednesday, with a barrel of crude briefly fetching less than $37 in thin Christmas Eve trading.

Expectations of further buildups in U.S. stocks also kept a low ceiling on prices.

After dipping as low as $36.63, light, sweet crude for February delivery recovered slightly but was still down $1.87 at $37.11 a barrel by afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 93 cents overnight to settle at $38.98.

A steady stream of dismal U.S. economic and corporate data during the past few months has hammered investor confidence and sent oil prices reeling 74 percent since July.

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