NEW YORK--Oil futures sold off Monday after weak German business confidence data spurred fresh worries about economic growth and strengthened the dollar against the euro.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $1.07, or 1.2%, to $91.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe fell $1.48, or 1.3%, to $109.94 a barrel.
Futures declined after Germany's Ifo Institute showed business confidence in the country fell for a fifth straight month. Germany is the euro zone's largest economy and is seen as the major engine behind the bailouts of weaker countries in the currency bloc.
The report raised further doubts about the economic health of the currency union. Europe is among the world's biggest users of crude oil, and the economic crisis that has swept the region has weighed on oil demand. The euro recently slipped against the dollar, which also weighed on dollar-denominated crude.
"The Ifo was bad...it's another sign the global economy is slowing," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, recently rose 0.3% at 69.607.
The disappointing German confidence number is the latest figure pointing to continued weakness in the single-currency union. The disappointing reading comes despite the European Central Bank's promise to buy unlimited short-term sovereign bonds in a bid to lower debt costs.
Uncertainty over the fate of the euro zone has weighed on the broader commodities market for many months, with investors nervous over the currency union's ability to support its weakest members, including Greece and Spain. That in turn has spurred worries about economic growth and demand for raw materials.
Monday's decline continues a recent spate of losses in the oil market. Nymex crude fell 6.2% last week while Brent sank 4.5%, the biggest weekly loss for both contracts since June.
On the bullish side, the market remains supported by geopolitical concerns, including persistent tensions between Iran and the West. Analysts say tensions have cooled recently, but prices could still spike if Israel or the U.S. carry out a military strike against Iran, or if the country decides to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a key thoroughfare for the world's waterborne crude.
"The same rhetoric has been hitting the media airwaves for months and I believe the market is starting to accept that the rhetoric may continue but it may not mean that military action is imminent," wrote Dominick Chirichella, analyst at the Energy Management Institute.
Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently slipped 1.5 cents, or 0.5%, to $2.9275 a gallon. October heating oil gave up 2.02 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.1005 a gallon.
