Crude oil corrects early week losses

Crude oil prices recovered some lost ground in early Wednesday trading, though most signs continue to show the markets are heavily favoring the supply side.

Brent crude oil edged up from the previous day's close by about 0.6 percent in early trading to $47.11 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for crude oil, gained 0.85 percent in early trading to sell for $43.57 per barrel.

Wednesday's early gains follow at least two straight sessions of declines. Brent crude oil is about 1.3 percent down from the start of the trading week.

The uptick in prices follows a string of dismal reports from leading global oil and gas companies, with most reporting a loss for the third quarter as the downturn drags on. Brent is selling for about 45 percent less than it did on this date in 2014.

Hess Corp. reported its fourth straight quarterly loss Wednesday, but added it was increasing its production guidance for the year. Oil prices are down in part because supplies outweigh demand at a time when global economic growth is slow.

For the week ending Oct. 23, data from the American Petroleum Institute show U.S. crude oil stocks increased by 4.1 million barrels. A more accurate snapshot on supplies in storage is scheduled to be released late Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Global economic recovery, meanwhile, is slow to non-existent. China has continued to intervene with rate cuts and currency re-evaluations in an effort to slow its decline. The United States, meanwhile, is growing, but at a slow pace. Europe, for its part, is struggling to gain momentum, as inflation fluctuates between negative and positive growth.

Eurostat, the statistics office for the European Union, reported Wednesday that household incomes in the 19 countries that use the euro currency increased by 0.1 percent in the second quarter, following a 0.9 percent increase in the previous quarter.