Crude oil steady near $85

Crude oil prices hovered near $85 per barrel in New York Tuesday morning after stock markets Monday displayed encouraging resilience. The Dow Jones industrial average added 330 points Monday as leaders of France and Germany discussed recapitalizing European banks. On the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, November delivery West Texas Intermediate crude oil came off an overnight peak of $85.70 per barrel to hit $84.70. Home heating oil opened the session at $2.9039 per gallon, losing 3.47 cents to $2.8692 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline shed 1.41 cents to $2.6812 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices added 3.7 cents to reach $3.578 per million British thermal units. At the retail level, the national average price of a unleaded gasoline rose to $3.396 per gallon from Monday's $3.395, AAA said.