By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) — Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday as investors nervously eyed the restart of fiscal-cliff talks after President Barack Obama said he would return early to Washington to try and work out a new deal. Crude oil for February delivery CLG3 +0.59% rose 45 cents, or 0.5%, to $89.06 a barrel. Markets will return in full on Wednesday following the Christmas break. Oil settled 5 cents lower at $88.61 a barrel on Monday. Obama is due to reach Washington early Thursday to take part in talks aiming at avoiding the fiscal cliff of austerity measures due to kick in at the beginning of 2013, according to media reports. Read: Obama returning to DC early for fiscal-cliff talks Both chambers of Congress are also due to return to work on Thursday. Just a few days remain before the new year, when a mandatory package of spending cuts and tax rises kicks in. Economists warn that going over the cliff will weigh on the U.S. economy. The White House and the Republicans failed to reach a deal ahead of the Christmas break. See MarketWatch's fiscal cliff page The U.S. stock market returns to action as well on Wednesday after the break. The Dow industrials finished Christmas Eve down 52 points, or 0.4%, to 13,139, extending losses into a second session on fears no deal will be reached regarding the fiscal cliff. Read: Fiscal cliff keeps Wall Street, consumers on edge The dollar moved moderately higher, while gold prices eased slightly. Within other energy contracts, natural-gas futures for January delivery NGF13 -0.66% fell 4 cents to $3.31 per million British thermal units. January heating oil HOF3 +0.55% was flat at $3 a gallon, while January gasoline RBF3 +0.31% rose 1 cent to $2.76 a gallon. Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid. Follow her on Twitter @bkollmeyer.

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