Oil prices moved higher, with crude futures...

Oil prices moved higher, with crude futures making a run at the $18-per-barrel threshold before dropping back amid profit taking, analysts said. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, contracts for February delivery of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark crude, settled at $17.85 per 42-gallon barrel, up 16 cents from Monday and $1.15 in the week’s first two sessions. Refined products were mixed. Wholesale unleaded gasoline fell 0.24 cent to 45.87 cents a gallon, trimming the contract’s Monday gain of 2.29 cents.