COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Oil prices settled above $62 a barrel yesterday as a surprising increase in consumer confidence sent stock prices higher.

Benchmark crude for July delivery gained 78 cents to settle at $62.45 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent prices rose $1.03 to settle at $61.24 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The stock market, which was flat before the report was issued, jumped after the report came out. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 rose more than two percent. Oil has rallied from about $35 a barrel as a strong move by stock prices has suggested that the economy — along with crude — will pick up in a few months from the longest recession since World War II.

"We're back to the S&P leading oil prices higher," said Addison Armstrong of Tradition Energy.

Prices fell below $60 yesterday until a private research group — The Conference Board — reported that consumer confidence in May soared to the highest level since last September amid tentative signs that the economy was improving. Its Consumer Confidence Index, which had dramatically increased in April, zoomed past economists' expectations to a reading of 54.9 from a revised 40.8 in April.

Traders and analysts also will be watching the Opec meeting in Vienna tomorrow.

Saudi Arabia's oil minister has said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is unlikely to cut output at the meeting.

In comments published yesterday in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, Ali al-Naimi also said he was concerned about global crude stockpiles, which are at high levels because of weak demand.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for June delivery rose 1.16 cents to settle at $1.8524 a gallon and heating oil added 0.73 cent to settle at $1.5453 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery rose 2.2 cents to settle at $3.537 per 1,000 cubic feet.