Crude oil $88.50 per barrel

Crude oil prices slogged higher Wednesday morning with prices near the bottom of an $88 to $92 plateau that has been steady since mid-July. Markit manufacturing reports from Europe and Asia showed sharp slowdowns as factories in most of Europe remained in recession. Support came from China, however, where President Hu articulated his support for economic stimulus. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices climbed on the New York Mercantile Exchange with September delivery contracts gaining 45 cents to $88.51 per barrel. Reformulated blendstock gasoline added 3.84 cents to $2.8127 per gallon. Home heating oil gained 1 cent to $2.858 per gallon. Natural gas was at $3.147 per million British thermal units, off 6.2 cents. At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline added 2.1 cents overnight to $3.521 per gallon, AAA said.