Oil Falls Below $11 a Barrel

Oil futures broke below $11 a barrel Monday, conveying a sensation of free-falling prices to the precious-metals and interest- rate futures markets. “It looks like we’re getting ready for an inferno here,” said Nauman Barakat, an energy analyst in New York with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations “are trying to drive prices as low as possible by April 15,” when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets on the crisis, he said.

If prices are not driven down, Barakat said, there’s no reason to think oil-producing nations will be any more able to agree to limits than they were during the failed meeting that ended a week ago.

Futures prices were depressed right from the start at the New York Mercantile Exchange and selling momentum accelerated near the close, said Peter Beutel, an analyst in New York with Rudolf Wolff Energy.

“Everybody has a favorite number where’s it’s going to stop,” he said. “But any number between $2 and $10 seems possible.”