Oil prices recovered to near $50 a barrel Tuesday after falling to a 3-year low earlier in the session as more bleak US economic news and plunging stock markets darkened investor expectations for energy demand. By mid-afternoon in Europe, light, sweet crude for January delivery was up 40 cents to $49.68 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier Tuesday prices briefly fell to $47.36, the lowest since 2005. In London, January Brent crude slid 54 cents to $47.43 on the ICE Futures exchange. The Nymex contract plummeted overnight $5.15 to settle at $49.28 after more signs of a weakening US economy sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 7.7 percent. While most Asian stock exchanges fell Tuesday, European markets were up and US stock futures also pointed to a higher open on Wall Street in contrast to Monday's huge drop. Oil investors have looked to equity markets as a barometer of economic growth sentiment. London's FTSE 100 index advanced 0.6 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.7 percent and the CAC-40 index in Paris gained 0.9 percent at mid
