Crude oil futures were up slightly Tuesday amid muted holiday trading in Europe as investors remain in a wait-and-see mode ahead of a landmark effort by oil producers to reduce global supply. The February contract for global crude benchmark Brent was up 0.03% at $55.19 a barrel while its U.S. counterpart, West Texas Intermediate, gained 0.41% to $53.25. Starting January, most members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 other non-cartel producers will start scaling back their production as part of a deal they made in the end of November . The reduction goal of roughly 1.8 million barrels will be carried out in phases. Oil prices have risen steadily throughout December and analysts believe they will breach the $60-a-barrel threshold in the first half of 2017. “At this point, most market watchers are optimistic that participating nations will comply [with] the production quotas in the […]