Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent to below $70 a barrel Monday as a steep drop in China's stock market raised doubts about the strength of the U.S. and global economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for October delivery lost $2.78 to settle at $69.96 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first time oil has ended a trading day below $70 in about two weeks.

"It's just a market that doesn't want to stray too far from $70 a barrel," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consulting firm Ritterbusch and Associates. "It looks like we're probably going to finish this month about where we started, and about where we started the summer."

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose a tenth of a cent overnight to $2.61, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's about 8 cents more than a month ago, but $1.08 less than at this time last year.

In Tulsa, the common price at the pump was $2.35, down a few cents from the weekend. The local cost was down about 12 cents from a week ago and was $1.19 lower than the same day in 2008, according to AAA-Oklahoma.

Gasoline prices probably won't move much for the upcoming Labor Day weekend, said AAA spokesman Chuck Mai.

"With Labor Day coming late this year and our expectations for a decrease in travel for the holiday, we shouldn't see demand rise like it often has in the past," he said.

After this weekend, gasoline prices likely will be moderate for the remainder of the year, barring any major worldwide developments, Mai said.

Last year, local pump prices declined steadily in the fall after nearly hitting $4 in July. In fact, by Nov. 3 the average price for gasoline in Tulsa stood at $1.98.

The local retail price continued to drop, hitting $1.41 on Dec. 31 and not climbing above $2 again until May 10, Mai recalled.

Still, the AAA analyst is not sure gasoline will match those lows in the next six to nine months.

"The major determining factors right now in the gasoline market are the cost of crude oil and what the stock market is doing," Mai said.

Wall Street has been on an upswing recently. Crude oil prices, meanwhile, "depend a lot on psychology," he said.

"A feeling, a perception -- even just anticipation -- that the worse is behind us economically can be enough to make crude oil prices rise," Mai said.

On Monday, however, feelings among energy traders turned pessimistic.