Oil recovers slightly
Oil prices rebounded slightly on Tuesday after slumping a day earlier on worries about tumbling energy demand in the United States as fresh financial turmoil hit the world's biggest economy.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April gained 55 cents to 42.76 dollars a barrel in London morning trade.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, rose 33 cents to 40.48 dollars a barrel.
Prices had shed more than four dollars by the close on Monday as the market reacted to weak economic data in the United States, the world's biggest energy consumer, and also to dire earnings news from major financials.
The downward revision in US gross domestic product (GDP) data and high jobless claims "are at the core of the economic woes and the ultimate drag on energy prices," said Phil Flynn, vice president of Alaron Trading Corporation.
The US government announced on Friday that GDP had shrunk by a worse-than-expected 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.
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