Oil snapped back from 17-month lows Wednesday as stocks rallied and traders sought a short-term bottom.  

The benchmark oil contract soared $4.77, or 7.6%, to settle at $67.50, though the recent trend in the commodities has been bearish. Oil now trades at less than half of its midsummer record-high on fears the global economic slowdown will substantially cut into demand. 

Global equity markets largely rallied Wednesday, helping to prop up oil prices. The Japanese Nikkei closed higher by 7.7%, and the British FTSE 100 closed up 8.05%. Domestic markets seesawed in afternoon trading following the Fed's interest rate decision, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently trading higher by about 1.8%. 

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly report showed a 500,000 barrel build in oil inventories, which is about one million barrels fewer than analysts expected. Although not entirely positive, this lower-than-expected increase in inventories bolstered today's upswing.  

According to Tom Hartmann, a commodity analyst at Altavest Worldwide Trading, today's bounce is merely a short-term phenomenon.  

"The market is tired of going down for the moment," he said. "we’ll see a short term bounce in prices until the reality of the situation sets in again."

Falling wholesale oil prices made their way into retail gas prices.  The average price for regular gas at the pump nationwide is now $2.59 a gallon, down substantially from $3.64 last month, according to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. 

Other energy markets fared equally well.  Natural gas rose 28 cents per million BTU’s to settle at $6.47, wholesale gasoline rose 8 cents per gallon to settle at $1.53 and heating oil rose 9 cents per gallon to settle at $2.00.

Gold pared some earlier gains, but still settled in the black -- trading higher by $13.50 to settle at $754 an ounce.