Commodities : Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1985 : Oil Futures Continue Falling

Petroleum futures continued to collapse Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“It’s just an unmitigated catastrophe,” said Peter Beutel, a petroleum analyst in New York with Rudolf Wolff Futures. “This is the oil market’s 1929.

“There’s some severe damage done out there both to the trading community and the refining community,” he said.

The sell-off was triggered by the weekend meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and their decision to maintain their market share even if prices fall, Beutel said.

Some of the selling Tuesday came from traders who were forced to either sell contracts or come up with sizable amounts of cash to cover losses suffered when prices fell sharply on Monday, Beutel said.

“I think today is probably the worst day on record for energy futures trading,” said Andy Lebow, a petroleum analyst in New York with Shearson Lehman Brothers.

Coffee futures prices soared once again in volatile trading on the Coffee Sugar & Cocoa Exchange.