By Reg Curren Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas rose for a fourth day as Caterpillar Inc. topped profit estimates and said it saw signs of an economic recovery. Fuel use may increase as Caterpillar, the world’s biggest maker of bulldozers and excavators, said industrial production has improved in the “vast majority of major economies” and forecast a 3 percent expansion in the U.S. and world economies next year. Industrial demand for gas accounts for 29 percent of consumption. “People are looking at corporate earnings and industrial demand picking up,” said Tom Orr, director of research at Weeden & Co., a brokerage in Greenwich, Connecticut. “It’s a bit of wishful thinking.” Natural gas for November delivery rose 21.5 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $5.05 per million British thermal units at 9:33 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have dropped 10 percent this year.

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