NYMEX October light sweet crude oil....>

US OIL CLOSE: NYMEX October light sweet crude oil futures settled down $1.30 at

$46.57 per barrel, after trading in a $46.15 to $48.20 range. The earlier low

was the lowest since July 24, when the front contract posted a low of $45.40.

- West Texas Intermediate closed below its 55-day moving average, currently at

$46.62, unable to take comfort from a falling dollar.

- The front contract peaked August 10 at $50.22. This came after topping out at

$50.43 August 1 and $50.41 July 31, which was also the last time West Texas

Intermediate closed above the $50 mark.

- Most recently, WTI topped out at $52.00 May 25, before the announcement of a

nine-month extension of OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts. The extension was largely

priced in and oil fell to $42.05 on June 21.

- Baker Hughes rig count data, released Friday, showed a four rig decrease to

759 rigs for U.S. "oil-only" rigs in the week ending August 25. This is less

than double the 406 rigs seen a year ago. However, rigs were still down 52.8%

from the peak rig count of 1,609 rigs seen Oct. 10, 2014.