Crude oil prices drop Monday

NEW YORK, July 6 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices tumbled to nearly $64 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday following a sharp fall in stock markets before the holiday recess.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.63 percent Thursday before the long Independence Day holiday.

Crude oil prices dropped $2.31 Monday to $64.05 per barrel. Heating oil prices fell 0.0714 cents to $1.6266 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline lost 0.0426 cents to $1.7404 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.157 cents to $3.487 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.611 Monday, down from Sunday's $2.618 a gallon, AAA said.