Crude futures fall for first day in four after earlier topping $50 a barrel Crude-oil futures fell after earlier topping $50 a barrel for the first time in five weeks, as demand concerns outweighed signals that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will move forward with production cuts. Crude for February delivery was last down 81 cents, or 1.7%, to $48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It climbed to $50.47 earlier, rising above $50 for the first time since Dec. 1. "The first attempt against the $50 psychological level is keeping a lid on this market," said Burton Schlichter, director of trading at New World Trading. The benchmark contract's loss Tuesday came after a gain of nearly $10, or 25%, in the past three trading sessions. "Oil is running out of steam because at the end of the day, the global crises have not cost the globe one drop of oil," said Phil Flynn, vice president at Alaron Trading. More economic data were released Tuesday that indicated the economic crisis is deepening. In the U.S., the world's biggest oil consumer, shipments from factories plunged a record 5.3% in November, the Commerce Department estimated. Orders for U.S. factory-made goods fell 4.6% in the month, twice as much as the expected 2.3% decline. See Economic Report. In a sign that further weakening may be in store for the U.S. housing market, an index of sales contracts on previously owned U.S. homes fell 4% in November from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. OPEC cuts Oil rose earlier in the session on news that Iran and Kuwait will deepen curbs on supplies to customers this month, joining OPEC peers in cutting back output, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing refiner sources. OPEC, which controls about 40% of the world's oil production, agreed in December to cut production by a record 2.2 million barrels a day starting from January, taking their total curbs since September to 4.2 million barrels a day. That's the equivalent to 5% of global oil supply. But there had been skepticism in the energy market about whether the cartel's member nations would actually comply with the announced production cuts. Despite reported moves by Iran and Kuwait, there's still a question about whether other members, such as Venezuela, will actually cut back. As they plan production cuts, some OPEC members have also said they plan to raise prices. OPEC's biggest producer, state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., better known as Saudi Aramco, on Sunday hiked nearly all of its official selling prices for February crude, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Separately, Iran's OPEC Gov. Mohammad Ali Khatibi said Monday that OPEC members decided to hold an extraordinary meeting in Kuwait in February to discuss oil prices, according to Dow Jones Newswires. OPEC pegged the price of its reference basket of 12 crude oils at $39.95 a barrel Friday, up $4.37 from $35.58 a barrel Wednesday. The reference basket isn't used to set oil prices in the market, but it gives a picture of the value of OPEC's output. Gaza fighting Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen continued Tuesday, as the International Red Cross said that the Gaza Strip faces a "full-blown humanitarian crisis," the BBC reported. Although neither Israel nor Palestine controls oil reserves, the fighting has raised tensions in the Middle East and may create some "short covering" in oil market, analysts said. An Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander on Monday urged Islamic nations to use crude as a weapon to exert pressure on nations supporting Israel, according to the Associated Press. Iran is the world's fourth-biggest oil producer. Oil prices had jumped in July 2006 after Israel attacked Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, also over the firing of rockets into Israel. Also lending support to energy prices earlier was the ongoing dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas. Countries in Eastern and Central Europe reported a sharp tightening in natural-gas imports, an offshoot of Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom's move last week to cut supplies to Ukraine over a price dispute. This has led to reduced supplies of natural gas moving through pipelines in Ukraine to other European countries. Read more on Russia-Ukraine dispute. Natural gas for February delivery was almost flat at $6.073 per million British thermal units. In other energy futures, February reformulated gasoline rose 1% to $1.1945 a barrel and February heating oil gained 2.7% to $1.6184 a gallon.

Source