Oil falls below $75 on crude demand uncertainty

Oil prices fell below $75 a barrel today, torn between rallying global stock markets and continuing doubts about the demand for crude in the United States.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for October delivery was down 51 cents at $74.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.81 to settle at $75.17 on Friday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday the central bank was ready to step in if the U.S. economy showed further signs of weakening. Bernanke’s comments sparked a stock market rally, with the Dow Jones industrial average jumping 1.7 percent Friday.

Most major European and Asian stock markets followed the U.S. lead and rose today. They also got a boost from Japan’s central bank deciding at an emergency board meeting to further ease monetary policy by extending more cheap loans to financial institutions.

Oil traders often closely watch equities as a gauge of overall investor sentiment.