COLUMBUS, Ohio — Oil prices swung wildly Thursday, following a lead from Wall Street, which sank 300 points before investors flooded back.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose $2.08 to settle at $58.24 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude earlier dipped to $54.67, a price last seen in January 2007, on reports that the world’s biggest economies are in recession and that energy demand has declined to decade-ago levels.
There was also chatter about yet another meeting by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production for the second time in a month.
Gas prices continued to fall, dropping 2.4 cents overnight to $2.178, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
In the Denver area, AAA reported that gas prices averaged $2.008 Thursday, down from $2.045 Wednesday and $3.369 a month ago.
