Oil prices rebounded Friday from steep declines a day earlier with investors confident that a $700 billion U.S. bailout package would get House approval, according to AP. There was also more optimism on the Wall Street as Wells Fargo Co. stepped in to buy Wachovia Corp. for $15.1 billion. Prices had slipped early in the day when the Department of Labor reported that employers slashed payrolls in September by the greatest amount in more than five years, a worrisome sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession. Figures showed payrolls shrank by 159,000, more than the 100,000 economists predicted. The nation's unemployment rate remained flat at 6.1 percent, as expected. But the Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 200 points. «Crude is tailgating a lot of these ongoing financial developments,» said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. «It's been closely trailing the swings in the equity markets all week long.» Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose 72 to $94.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, November Brent crude rose 49 cents to $91.05 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. On Thursday, prices closed at their lowest level in two weeks, tumbling below $94 a barrel on doubts that a revamped bailout plan will be enough to avoid a protracted economic slump. Settling at $93.97 a barrel, the price was the lowest since Sept. 16.
