By Edward McAllister

U.S. crude settled up $1.37 at $62.41 a barrel, while London Brent crude gained $1.73 to settle at $59.08.

Earlier, recession worries had pushed oil lower and U.S. stocks fell as General Motors shares slumped, Fannie Mae reported a record $29 billion loss.

"A positive move by the Chinese to offer a major stimulus package was being offset by ongoing economic concerns, causing cross currents, providing traders with another wild ride as intraday volatility remained high," said Chris Jarvis, senior analyst at Caprock Risk Management in New Hampshire.

The U.S. government restructured its bailout of American International Group Inc on Monday, raising the package to a record $150 billion with easier terms, after a smaller rescue plan failed to stabilize the ailing insurance giant.

China's spending package, which aims to boost domestic demand and help the world's forth largest economy ride out the credit crisis, helped push the dollar lower.

Saudi Arabia told refiners in Asia it would cut December supplies by 5 percent, signaling its adherence to an OPEC plan to cut output.

OPEC members last month agreed to lower the group's output ceiling by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), roughly 5 percent, after slumping demand in the United States and other top consumers sent crude prices tumbling from record highs over $147 a barrel in July.

A poll of analysts questioned ahead of the weekly U.S. government inventory data forecast that U.S. crude oil stocks rose 0.8 million barrels last week.

The analysts predicted the data, which will be released on Thursday instead of Wednesday due to the U.S. Veterans Day holiday, will show a 0.5 million-barrel rise in distillate inventories and a 0.8 million-barrel rise in gasoline stocks.

(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New York, Fayen Wong in Perth and Barbara Lewis and Alex Lawler in London; Editing by David Gregorio)