U.S. and global oil benchmarks jumped to their largest percentage gains in more than two years on Friday, as a handful of modestly bullish headlines supported the market and traders closed out bets that prices would fall. Analysts said the market seemed oversold and due to stabilize, at least for the time being, in the absence of further bearish news about growing global supplies. The front-month January contract expired with the close of trading Friday, providing the last opportunity for traders with bets against the market to close out positions. The U.S. crude contract for January rose $2.41, or 4.5%, to settle at $56.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Most of the volume in the market has already moved forward into the February contract, which also rose, settling up 5.1% at $57.13 a barrel. The global […]