•Light sweet crude futures on NYMEX and Brent futures on ICE were back up over a dollar in European morning trading Tuesday, but volumes were low as market participants waited for the US Federal Reserve interest rate announcement.

•"Monday's sell-off was so violent, this bounce back was to be expected today," said a London-based trader. "Equity markets have also recovered a little." "People are waiting for the Fed to cut interest rates. It has been fairly quiet so far," said a London-base broker. "Oil is still expensive though--it's still above $100."

•S&P 500 futures, NASDAQ 100 futures and Dow Industrial futures were all up early Tuesday, Dow Jones said. Market watchers around the world expect the US Federal Reserve to move aggressively to staunch the blood-letting of the US economy this week. Economists anticipate a hefty cut in interest rates, possibly as much as a full percentage point to 2%-3% when the Fed meets Tuesday. By the summer the US' benchmark Fed rate could be as low as 1%, say some analysts.

Updated: March 18, 2008