Oil Prices Fall Back Below $80

New York, NY, Jan. 15, 2010--Oil prices fell below $79 a barrel Friday due to a strengthening dollar and weak demand.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for February delivery was down 77 cents to $78.62 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Prices also fell on concerns demand from the U.S. and Europe remains weak.

Retail sales in the United States fell 0.3 percent in December, while economists had expected an increase.