NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude futures were mostly flat Tuesday, wavering between gains and losses as conflicting economic data kept oil firmly in its recent trading range. Light, sweet crude for November delivery recently traded 2 cents lower at $76.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling as low as $75.53 earlier in the session. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 47 cents higher at $79.04 a barrel. Oil prices moved sideways during Monday's session as well, as traders weigh data on the economic recovery--and prospective oil demand--against a supply glut in the U.S. Early Tuesday, the Case-Shiller home-price indexes showed U.S. home prices rose again in July from a month earlier. But U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply in September, research group The Conference Board said Tuesday, due to worries about weak labor markets. The group's index of consumer confidence fell to 48.5 this month from a revised 53.2 in August. The reading was far worse than economists expected. Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently down 7 points to 10804 on the report. Despite the conflicting data, crude remains firmly in the middle of its recent trading range between roughly $70 and $80 a barrel. Analysts say it's growing increasingly difficult for oil to break out of the range that has confined futures for months, even amid the recent rally in equities markets and a weakening dollar. "Every time we try to push too far away from $75 towards the downside, the expectations for economic growth seem to hold the market, and once we push towards $78, the high supplies...seem to cap the rally," said Gene McGillian, a broker and analyst with Tradition Energy. "You've found kind of a fair value here around $75." U.S. commercial stockpiles of oil and fuel products remain near 27-year highs, and weekly data from the Department of Energy due 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday are expected to show only a modest change. Crude inventories are expected to fall by 100,000 barrels, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts. Gasoline stocks are seen rising by 1.1 million barrels. Stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, are seen rising by 400,000 barrels. "U.S. crude futures will continue to struggle as a result of high domestic inventories that could become even more onerous," said Jim Ritterbusch, head of research firm Ritterbusch and Associates, in a client note. "We would caution against approaching the market from either direction at around the $75 to $76 region given the likelihood of being whipsawed in what has proven to be and will likely continue to be a choppy, sideways trade for another month or two," he added. While the supply glut keeps oil from moving higher, the possibility for oil demand to increase with an improving economy has created a floor for prices. The stock market's September rally offered hope that conditions in the economy will improve for businesses. And investors are keeping a close watch on upcoming data, including consumer confidence figures, auto sales and manufacturing reports all due this week for signals on the strength of the economic recovery. There is little hope, however, that the reports will be dramatic enough to force a significant change in the current oil price activity. "With prices still stuck in tight trading ranges, there is little indication that they will break out one way or another, at least for the time being," said MF Global analyst Edward Meir. Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently traded 1.42 cents higher at $1.9630 a gallon. October heating oil recently traded 1 cent higher at $2.1328 a gallon.

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