By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rose Monday for a fourth straight session, their winning streak now the longest since October, on expectations that economic reports this week will show an improvement in consumer confidence. Also helping crude, the dollar stayed lower against most major currencies, boosting dollar-denominated commodities prices as the dollar index (DXY 77.57, -0.12, -0.15%) fell 0.4% to 77.556, and U.S. stock markets are poised to open higher. Crude for February delivery rose 36 cents, or 0.5%, to $78.41 a barrel in North American electronic trading. Futures ended last week's trading up nearly 5%. "A stronger equity market and a positive carryover effect from last week's economic data are helping energy prices push higher," said Brian Niemiec, analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group. "Continued violence across Iran may also be aiding crude as protesters clashed with security forces across the nation." By most measures, U.S. consumers' confidence is slowly improving, although it remains far below normal levels. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch are forecasting an increase to 54 in December from November's 49.5 when the Conference Board releases its consumer confidence index Tuesday. See Economic Review. The Labor Department reported last Thursday initial U.S. jobless claims dropped more than expected, helping push up crude prices to the highest level in three weeks. Financial markets then closed for the long Christmas weekend. In Iran, hundreds of thousands of people opposed to the current Iranian regime took to the streets Sunday in a reprise of the protests that followed the country's elections in June. Iranian state television on Monday said that at least 15 people were killed. In other energy trading, January gasoline rose 0.9% to $2.0079 a gallon, January heating oil gained 1.1% to $2.0575 a gallon, and January natural gas rallied 3.6% to $5.843 per million British thermal units.

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