Oil futures edge higher

he contract surged $4.01, or 5.3%, to settle at $79.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in regular trading on Wednesday.
Click to Play

Exit in sight for this bear market?

Barron’s Clare McKeen and Vito Racanelli discuss how the fourth quarter, if history proves true, might show a little bit of a recovery for long-term investors willing to look beyond this volatile market period.

The gains on Wednesday followed data from the Energy Information Administration which reported that oil inventories declined 4.7 million barrels in the week to Sept. 30, against market expectations for an increase of approximately 2.5 million barrels.

Oil prices also got a lift Wednesday from U.S. employment numbers. Automatic Data Processing data that showed private-sector payrolls increased 91,000 in September, after an expansion of 89,000 in August.

Oil finished below $76 a barrel for the first time in more than a year in regular New York trading earlier in the week as investors fretted that energy demand will evaporate along with U.S. economic growth.

Key for investors attempting to gauge the health of the U.S. economy will be U.S. employment data due Friday although markets may see some volatility Thursday, with interest rate decisions from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank due.

Although Barclays Capital strategists believe that the Bank of England will likely leave its key rate on hold, they do expect the ECB’s hawkish stance to soften on Thursday. The strategists said that the ECB will likely loosen policy using conventional and unconventional measures and added “the combination of these measures is likely to surprise markets.”

Sarah Turner is MarketWatch’s bureau chief in Sydney.