Oil was steady early Friday after closing Thursday below $37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first time it closed below $40 in more than four years, Bloomberg reported.

Crude futures fell $3.84 Thursday to close at $36.22 on the Nymex, and the continuing decline showed that OPEC’s decision Wednesday to cut production volumes by 2.2 million had little immediate effect on prices, Bloomberg said.

Oil closed at a record $145.18 a barrel on July 14, and has fallen steadily since then.
 
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