Oil rebounds on weaker dollar

Oil bounced back today as a weaker dollar, strong corporate earnings and rising stock prices brought buyers back, a day after China's surprise interest rate hike caused a sharp drop in prices.

Benchmark crude for November delivery rose $2.28 to settle at $81.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That contract expired today and trading moved to the December contract, where oil climbed by $1.38 to settle at $82.54 a barrel.

Meanwhile, retail gasoline prices continued to climb, with the national average at $2.831 for a gallon of regular, according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. It's up 10.5 cents from a month ago and 25.4 cents from a year ago.

For weeks traders have dismissed the fact that oil and gasoline supplies remain plentiful, focusing instead on the movement of the dollar and stock markets as they buy and sell oil for future delivery.