Oil hovered above $85 a barrel Thursday in Asia amid speculation the U.S. may implement stimulus measures to boost a flagging recovery, AP reported. Benchmark oil for July delivery was up 7 cents to $85.09 per barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 73 cents to settle at $85.02 in New York on Wednesday. In London, Brent crude for July delivery was down 42 cents at $100.22 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak to Congress later Thursday, and investors will be closely watching for any evidence the central bank plans another round of Treasury purchases, known as quantitative easing. Oil has dropped from $106 early last month to below $82 on Monday amid signs of slowing economic growth and crude demand in Europe, the U.S. and China. In other energy trading, heating oil was down 1 cent at $2.66 per gallon while gasoline futures slid 0.8 cents at $2.68 per gallon. Natural gas dropped 0.3 cents at $2.42 per 1,000 cubic feet.
