Oil slumps on economic concerns

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices ended lower Monday as concern about bank loan write-offs pushed the stock markets lower.

U.S. crude for May delivery ended the day down $1.46 to $51.05 a barrel. Prices fell low as $49.81 a barrel during the session.

Investors have been looking to the stock market to gauge oil demand in a weak economy, according to analysts. Concern about the economy deepened Monday, and the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 1.5% by the time floor trading closed in New York.

"Traders are more or less taking their cues from the equity markets," said analyst Stephen Schork, publisher of energy trading newsletter The Schork Report.

Financial stocks dropped Monday after banking analyst Mike Mayo at Calyon Securities warned that the write-offs banks take on failed loans could exceed those incurred during the Great Depression.

The deterioration of bank debt holdings has been a key factor in the recession. Mayo wrote in a research report that bank loan losses could rise to 3.5% by 2010 from the current 2%.

Oil prices will continue to bounce between the mid- $30s and mid- $50s until investors see some definitive sign that the economy is starting to recover, said Schork. "There is virtually no demand," he said.

The price of gasoline ticked down 0.1 cent to a national average of $2.039 for regular on Monday, according to a daily survey from motorist group AAA.