Crude oil prices in major decline

Crude oil prices dropped more than five dollar per barrel Monday after Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) was forced to declare bankruptcy and as it began to look as if Hurricane Ike had not done nearly as much damage to oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Texas Gulf Coast as had been feared.

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $5.47 to $95.71 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while October contracts for Brent crude were $5.10 lower to $92.48 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange during the session.

In afternoon trade, Nymex October gasoline was 19 cents lower to $2.58 per gallon while October heating oil had fallen 12 cents to $2.82 per gallon, but October natural gas had gained 2 cents to $7.61 per million British thermal units.

At-the-pump prices for gasoline in the US were expected to stay higher for a couple of weeks as refineries in the affected regions worked to come back online, but after that it was anticipated that they will return to pre-storm levels.

Metals prices were mixed.

Gold and silver saw gains as worried investors sought them out as a safe-haven, but there was some speculation that the rally could be limited as some speculators sell their gold to cover other losses.

December gold was up $22.50 to $787 per troy ounce in New York, while December silver added 34 cents to $11.13 per troy ounce.

Earlier, in mid-morning trade in New York, platinum had dropped $36 to $1,174.50 per troy ounce while palladium was down $5.65 to $237.15 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, December copper was 6 cents lower to $3.14 per pound while three-month copper dropped $157 to $6,965 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

Grains prices were mixed on the Chicago Board of Trade as December corn dropped a cent to $5.62 per bushel and November soybeans fell 23 cents to $11.79 per bushel but December wheat added 7 cents to $7.27 per bushel.

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