By Margot Habiby Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell the most in a week as the euro tumbled against the dollar, curbing the appeal of commodities as an alternative investment to the U.S. currency. Oil dropped as much as 2.6 percent as concern Europe’s debt crisis may worsen caused the euro to weaken the most since Aug. 11. Germany factory orders unexpectedly declined and European Union finance ministers failed to reach an agreement on a tax on financial transactions to bolster national budgets. “There’s a lot of European bank fears resurfacing again this morning, and the euro’s broken down and the dollar’s gotten stronger,” said Tom Bentz, a broker with BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc. in New York. “That’s helping to put some pressure on oil.” Crude for October delivery lost 75 cents, or 1 percent, to $73.85 a barrel at 9:16 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, it touched $72.67 a barrel in its biggest one-day decrease since Aug. 31. U.S. financial markets were closed yesterday for the Labor Day holiday. The euro fell 0.9 percent against the dollar to $1.2765 from $1.2876 yesterday. The currency has declined 1 percent since Sept. 3. To contact the reporter on this story: Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net.

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