NATION

NATION

Price of crude oil drops more than $10/barrel

NEW YORK — Oil prices plunged more than $10 a barrel Monday as a U.S. financial bailout plan failed to win legislative approval, raising the specter of a prolonged economic downturn that could drastically erode global energy demand.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery sank $10.52, or 10.1 percent, to settle at $96.36 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping as low as $95.04. It was crude’s lowest trading level since prices edged back below $100 earlier this month; crude previously hadn’t traded that low since February.

Crude has fallen almost $25, or 20 percent, in the past week amid intense talks to hammer out a deal for the $700 billion bailout.

ImClone expects action by Wednesday from suitor

TRENTON, N.J. — ImClone Systems Inc. said Monday it expects either a solid purchase proposal or formal rejection by Wednesday night from its mystery suitor, which ImClone says is offering $70 per share for the biotech company.

That price, from a large pharmaceutical company ImClone hasn’t identified, tops two offers from the company’s partner, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., in a friendly marriage proposal-turned-triangle featuring sharp exchanges between Bristol’s CEO and ImClone’s chairman, billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn.

Associated Press