Crude Oil's Pullback Pauses

Updated from 2:51 p.m. EST

Colder weather in the U.S. helped oil prices rebound from an early decline and close higher Wednesday -- a rare reprieve from the downturn of recent weeks.

Near-dated contracts for light, sweet crude ended up $1.03 at $52.24 a barrel on the Nymex.

Meanwhile, other products in the energy complex were mixed. Natural gas futures were off 41 cents at $6.23 per million British thermal units. Gasoline was up a penny at $1.38 a gallon, and heating oil tacked on 2 cents at $1.50 a gallon. ...