LONDON — Oil prices hovered above $68 a barrel today after a two-day plunge as a drop in U.S. crude inventories suggested demand may be recovering.

Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 60 cents to $68.29 a barrel by midday European time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil sank almost $5 a barrel the first two days of the week as investors worried that an economic recovery would be slow.