US crude oil holds above $95

Crude oil prices held above $95 per barrel Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as equities rallied further on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average of blue-chip stocks closed above 15,000 for the first time Tuesday, emblematic of the recent equity market optimism. West Texas Intermediate crude oil shed 41 cents to reach $95.56 per barrel. Gasoline prices lost 5.08 cents to $2.827 a gallon. Home heating oil gained 3.06 cents to $2.9206 a gallon. Natural gas shed 9 cents to $3.927 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.521 Monday, up from Sunday's $3.52, the AAA Fuel Gauge Report said.