Oil Drops More than $4 to Close Near $126 a Barrel

Crude oil fell more than $4 Thursday to close at $126.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

The drop came in part on signs that record high prices for retail fuels will prompt U.S. consumers to scale back use, Bloomberg said.

Fuel consumption for the four weeks ended last Friday was down 0.7% from a year earlier, the Department of Energy said Thursday.

Oil inventories plunged 8.9 million barrels for the week ended Saturday, DOE said — the biggest drop since Sept. 17, 2004, following Hurricane Ivan, Bloomberg reported.

Gasoline stockpiles fell by 3.2 million barrels and distillates, which include diesel, rose by 1.6 million barrels last week, DOE said in its weekly report issued Thursday, one day later than usual because of the Memorial Day holiday.