Oil prices rose on Thursday alongside U.S. stock markets as Wall Street recovered from the worst meltdown since 2011 the previous day, allaying some fears that a slowdown in global economic growth would hit demand for oil. Brent crude futures LCOc1 crude rose 80 cents to $76.78 per barrel at 11:36 a.m. EDT (1556 GMT) as U.S. equities rose amid strong corporate earnings. The global benchmark has lost around $10 a barrel since hitting a high of $86.74 on Oct. 3. U.S. crude CLc1 rose to $67.36, up 54 cents. Crude prices were pulled higher as the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 .SPX increased 1.6 percent after companies including software maker Microsoft, automaker Ford and social media […]