Oil rises thanks to Bernanke

OIL rose to the highest level in more than a week in New York, climbing with equities on optimism that the economy willexpand and a report that US consumer spending gained in July.

Futures jumped 2.2% after the Commerce Department said purchases increased the most since February. Federal Reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke said recently the economic recovery is likely to improve in the second half of the year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced as much as 2.8%.

“The consumer spending numbers looked better than expected,” said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank AG in Washington. “People interpreted Bernanke’s comments positively because the chairman is not pushing the panic button.”