Crude oil sinks as confidence weakens

NEW YORK - Crude oil fell, closing at a 17-month low in New York, after a report showed that US consumer confidence dropped to the weakest level on record in October.

Crude oil for December delivery fell 49 cents to settle at $62.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing price since May 16, 2007. Prices have tumbled 57 percent since they reached a record $147.27 on July 11.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' secretary-general said the group may call a new meeting if prices fail to react to the 1.5 million-barrel-a-day output cut it announced last week. "Until you see a change in economic sentiment, there won't be any sustained rallies in the oil market," said Kyle Cooper, an analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston. OPEC "can announce all the cuts they like and the market will ignore it."

Futures in after-hours electronic trading climbed along with US stocks. Prices rose $1.15 to $64.37 a barrel.

Household wealth in the nation has evaporated as stocks tumbled last month, home equity shrank, and job losses mounted.

The dimming outlook signals consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the US economy, will deteriorate further, deepening the slump. US gasoline use fell 6.4 percent last week from a year earlier as lower prices at the pump did little to stimulate demand, a MasterCard Inc. report yesterday showed.

OPEC's decision last week to trim production for the first time in almost two years failed to stop prices from falling.

The Energy Department will probably report today that US supplies of crude oil, gasoline, and distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, rose last week, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Brent crude oil for December settlement declined $1.12 to $60.29 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.