Oil prices soared to a one-month high on Tuesday, providing investors some respite from a prolonged selloff that rattled financial markets, the energy sector and oil-dependent economies. U.S. oil futures notched a fourth consecutive gain, their longest winning streak since August. Prices have risen 19% in that time. The benchmark crude-oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up $3.48, or 7%, at $53.05 a barrel, the highest settlement price since Dec. 31, 2014. Despite the jump in oil prices, few investors and analysts are willing to call a bottom to a downdraft that began in July, the magnitude of which caught many market experts by surprise . Plunging oil prices, driven by a global glut of crude oil, pummeled shares of oil companies and the currencies of oil-producing nations. The decline also prompted cutbacks to energy spending and investment, potentially sowing the seeds for a sustained recovery […]