Crude oil prices lower again

Crude oil prices dropped below $70 per barrel for the first time in more than two months on Tuesday as weather concerns eased. Hurricane Ernesto was downgraded to tropical storm status and it turned away from major oil producing areas, Meanwhile, in the Pacific Ocean, Hurricane John was not expected to affect the production, refining, or shipping of oil.

Brent crude for October delivery was down $1.02 in London to $69.;81 per barrel, while October contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was 76 cents lower to $69.75 per barrel after dropping as low as $69.30 per barrel earlier in the session.

In the metals markets on Tuesday, gold fell $3 to $610.40 per troy ounce. The World Gold Council said that demand for gold in the Middle East was down by 25 percent in the second quarter.

In base metals, three-month copper was $170 lower to $7,390 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange even though the Escondida mine strike in Chile was into its fourth week. The price of nickel was also down, by $1,150 to $28,250 per tonne for three-month nickel even though inventories in LME warehouses are down to a few hours of global consumption. The cash price for nickel is at $34,000 per tonne.

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