Oil prices fell below $38 US a barrel briefly on Monday with analysts pointing to expected weak U.S. business earnings reports as the reason.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price for a barrel of light sweet crude for February delivery fell eight per cent, or $3.24, to settle at $37.59 US a barrel. Prices are still above the recent low of $33.87 reached on Dec. 19.

Aluminum maker Alcoa is to present its quarterly earnings after the close of trading Monday, with computer chipmaker Intel and Genentech, a biotechnology firm, due to report later this week.

"Given that we're likely to see quite a few rather poor fourth-quarter earnings reports, downward pressure will continue to be exerted on oil," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consulting firm Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "Worries about the macroeconomic outlook will continue to constrain oil."

On Friday, the U.S. government said the economy shed 524,000 jobs in December, pushing the U.S. jobless rate to 7.2 per cent, the highest point since 1993. In Canada, 34,400 jobs were lost in December, with a drop of 70,700 full-time jobs partially offset by a rise in the number of people working part-time.

With files from the Associated Press