Oil prices fall down more than $3 Monday

New York -- Crude oil prices eased dropped $3.31 a barrel Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $121.27 per barrel.

After a fall of 16 percent from oil's peak in early July, investors are wondering what will trigger the next price push and when it will arrive.

"When the mindset of the market has changed, you kind of need more to support the trend," Antoine Halff with Newedge USA, LLC, told The Wall Street Journal.

"There's more room for the market to go down: further evidence of easing demand and recovered supply from producers would trigger the downdraft," Halff said.

Heating oil prices rose slightly in late trading Monday, up 0.0049 cents to $3.355 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices fell slightly, down 0.0002 cents to $3.00 per gallon. Natural gas prices also fell, down 0.023 cents to $8.703 per million British thermal units.

The national average retail price of unleaded gasoline also edged lower Monday, down 0.006 cents to $3.881 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.