Natural-gas futures also rose, recovering some ground after falling to a seven-year low in the previous session. Light sweet crude for October delivery gained 71 cents, or 1%, to $74.61 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract hit an intraday high of $74.81 a barrel on Globex, the highest level for a front-month contract since late October. "We could now easily move towards the $80 mark if the growing enthusiasm about the budding economic recovery continues to dominate sentiment," wrote Edward Meir, analyst at MF Global, in a note to clients. Oil futures surged on Friday to end the week with a gain of 6.1%. On Wall Street, stocks posted gains, with the S&P 500 stock index (SPX 1,032, +5.73, +0.56%) gaining 0.6% to 1,031 points. Also on Globex, September natural-gas futures rose 7.60 cents, or 2.8%, to $2.880 per million British thermal units. Natural-gas futures fell sharply Friday to end at a fresh seven-year low, pressured by a glut in supplies. See full story. "Given the latest inventory increase, we don't think [gas prices] can break above $3 in the near term. On the contrary, the market is likely to remain weak," Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a report. September reformulated gasoline gained 2.44 cents, or 1.2%, to $2.02 a gallon and September heating oil added 1.87 cents, or 1%, to $1.9243 a gallon. The United States Oil Fund LP (USO 38.59, +0.36, +0.94%) rose 1.2% and the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG 11.55, +0.20, +1.76%) gained 3%. Polya Lesova is a New York-based reporter for MarketW

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