Oil prices rose on the coattails of broader financial markets Tuesday.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery rallied to settle up $1.52 at $39.96 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil prices have failed to settle above $40 for more than two weeks, and inventories of crude are surging toward record levels.

The Dow Jones industrials rose 236 points Tuesday.

"Right now, it's all about the stock markets," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. "A little pop on stocks means a little pop on oil. If things start looking bad, then we start looking down."

Lower prices for oil in recent days has helped the price of gasoline fall in Tulsa. Late Tuesday, the most common retail price for regular-grade gas was $1.51 a gallon, down 8 cents from the weekend.

-- FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Microsoft preparing for lengthy recession

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer says the economic crisis will likely affect the software giant well beyond 2009.

"You don't beat it. You manage in this environment," Ballmer said Tuesday at a meeting with financial analysts in New York. "You don't think about it as shorter term. You think about it as a reset that may take several years."

Ballmer said Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is looking to television maker RCA as a role model. RCA spent money on research and development through the Great Depression, then dominated its market.

Microsoft, which recently resorted to its first mass layoff, will feel the economic pain most acutely in business units that sell the Windows operating system and Office desktop software, Ballmer said. Yet the company plans to spend most heavily on those two segments as it prepares new versions, Windows 7 and Office 14, and pumps more money into advertising. Microsoft has said it expects to release Windows 7 by January 2010.

Ballmer also said Microsoft has poured resources into a new version of the Internet Explorer Web browser to reverse losses in market share.

-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Galvanizer seeks to up number of shares

North American Galvanizing & Coatings Inc. is asking shareholders for permission to increase the number of company shares by 39 percent, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the plan, the Tulsa-based company would increase the number of shares by 7 million -- from 18 million to 25 million.

The move could either allow the company to issue more stock or to split shares, said spokeswoman Beth Hood.

The company has fewer than 500,000 shares of stock available, limiting its options after splitting the stock in 2006 and 2007, Hood said.

North American Galvanizing & Coatings earned a company record $12.5 million during 2008.

Tuesday in Nasdaq trading, shares rose 9 cents, or 3 percent, to close at $2.99.

-- KYLE ARNOLD,World Staff Writer

Wind energy to power Dell facility in OKC

Dell Inc. has announced plans to power its 240,000 square-foot Oklahoma City campus with 100 percent wind energy.

Chris Scully, senior manager of the environment for Dell- Oklahoma City, says the move should reduce the facility's carbon dioxide emissions by 5,100 tons per year.

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell announced the deal with OG&E Electric Services as part of a plan to reduce its worldwide facilities' greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2015.

OG&E officials say Dell is among the first large businesses in central Oklahoma to be powered entirely with renewable energy.

OG&E is the utility unit of Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy Corp., which has invested in wind farm in central and western Oklahoma.

-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published by Staff Reports.

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