Crude oil slips under $104

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices slid to less than $104 per barrel in New York Monday.

Oil prices have been in retreat as the sense the crisis in Syria will turn into an international conflict has abated. Monday's Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing in China, which came in higher than expected at 51.2, helped check the slide early.

Prices then moved lower as equity markets slumped on Wall Street.

In late afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was off 0.27 percent, down 41.78 points to 15,409.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 0.42 percent, losing 7.10 points to 1,702.81.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude oil for November delivery lost $1.20 to reach $103.55 per barrel, off 1.15 percent. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices gave up 5.87 cents to $2.6255 per gallon. Home heating oil shed 3.98 cents or 1.3 percent to $2.9644 per gallon. Natural gas dropped 7 cents to $3.625 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline fell to $3.472 per gallon Monday from Sunday's $3.479, AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.