Oil prices hovered above $70 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as investors weighed mixed signals from the U.S. economy amid tumbling equity markets.

Benchmark crude for July delivery rose 10 cents to $70.57 a barrel by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, it fell 15 cents to settle at $70.47.

Oil prices this week have come off eight-month highs near $73 a barrel amid some signs that the U.S. economy — while past the worst of a severe recession — is still weak. The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that industrial production fell a larger-than-expected 1.1 percent in May.

After a rally of almost 40 percent since March 9, the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen 3.3 percent over the first two days of the week.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said home construction jumped in May by the largest amount in three months after hitting a record low in April.

“There have been some mixed signs,” said Toby Hassall, an analyst with investment firm Commodity Warrants Australia in Sydney. “The last few days we’ve seen a turn toward negative sentiment. Oil looks set for a correction.”

Crude traders have also been watching the dollar. A weakening dollar helped fuel a doubling of the oil price since March as investors often look to commodities such as crude as a hedge against inflation.

The euro gained to $1.3867 on Wednesday from $1.3813 on Tuesday.

“Oil will likely drift below $70 and maybe to $65.” Hassall said. “It’s been a very strong rally, driven by sentiment rather than data, which makes it look vulnerable to a correction.”

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for July delivery fell 2.21 cents to $2.05 a gallon and heating oil was steady at $1.83. Natural gas for July delivery slid 2.8 cents to $4.10 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent prices rose 7 cents to $70.31 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

– ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, said it may take a century for the nation to replace fossil fuels with alternative energy sources.

 
The country will need to develop its own oil and natural- gas deposits and continue importing petroleum while developing alternative supplies in the decades ahead, ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva said today at the National Summit economic conference in Detroit. At the same time, he said, the nation will need to address climate change.

 
The U.S. needs policy that encourages investments in all types of energy and avoids hurting the economy by making the nation less competitive than countries with cheaper energy, Mulva said. Proposed climate legislation in Congress threatens to drive U.S. refiners out of business by imposing higher carbon costs on domestic fuel than on imports, he said.

 
“Government action is needed on energy and climate policy, and some form of legislation seems likely to pass,” Mulva said. “We hope that it is realistically based on the hard energy facts I’ve mentioned and not on politically popular hot air.”

 
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are the biggest U.S. oil companies. ConocoPhillips has the largest U.S. refining capacity among major oil and gas producers.