•Global crude futures recovered from prior losses in European morning trading Tuesday, with ICE Brent bouncing off a 20-month low hit earlier in the session, as market participants awaited the outcome of the US election.

•In the equities markets, the FTSE 100 index traded up. The divergence between the commodities complex and the equities market suggested that commodity fundamentals--global oil demand and manufacturing data--are having a more pronounced effect on the complex than the directional shifts of the equity markets.

•Auto sales for October offered little inspiration, with Porsche, General Motors and Ford all having recorded big falls in sales volumes. "With lower gasoline prices and no credit, one might as well run the old SUV for a little longer," energy analyst Olivier Jakob said in a Petromatrix report.

•The ICE dollar index traded lower at 85.788, having previously traded as high as 86.788.

Updated: November 4, 2008