Oil prices dropped below $69 a barrel Monday, hurt by a rise in the US dollar, which tends to weigh on commodities, and a slide in regional stock markets. By mid-afternoon in Europe, Benchmark crude for October delivery was down 32 cents to $68.97 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract tumbled $2.65 to settle at $69.29. Brent crude was down 25 cents to $67.44 on the ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices have fallen about $4 in the last two trading days as the dollar rebounded off its lows of the year last week. The euro fell Monday to $1.4563 from $1.4594 on Friday.
