By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures traded lower early Monday after gaining nearly 6% last week, as traders continued to worry about the impact of a global economic slowdown on energy demand. Crude oil for December delivery fell $1.07 to $66.74 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. "On the bullish side, we think markets are still trading in the shadow of U.S. equities, which have had a distinctly better tone to them in recent days," Edward Meir, an analyst at MF Global, wrote in a research note. "On the bearish side, we suspect that any equity-induced gains in energy will start to fade late in the week and into next, as funds may choose to sell into the rallies given the recession realities that are still out there," Meir said. Last week, oil prices rose nearly 6%. However, crude's front-month contract still saw a drop of 32.6%, or $32.83, for the month of October -- the biggest monthly decline recorded on Nymex since trading began in 1983. On Wall Street Monday, U.S. stock futures nudged forward as investors braced for another week of rocky data and earnings. Dow Industrials futures (DJIA: , , ) rose 16 points. See Indications. Currency markets continued to take their cue from equities, with the dollar and yen retreating against most major counterparts as rebound in risk appetite provided modest support for Asian and European stocks. The dollar index , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, fell to 85.35 from 85.834 in late North American trading Friday. See Currencies. Also on Globex Monday, December reformulated gasoline futures fell 4 cents to $1.46 a gallon and December heating oil futures dropped 2 cents to $2.06 a gallon. December natural gas futures fell 12 cents to $6.67 per million British thermal units.

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