Three days after oil prices tumbled below $50 a barrel in response to rising inventories and record high OPEC output, traders bid up futures above that psychologically pivotal level, sending a clear signal that last week's drop in prices was overdone. Crude futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped nearly 10 percent last week and settled below $50 a barrel Friday for the first time since February. Monday, they surged in a late burst to settle at $50.92 a barrel, up $1.20. The rally helped lift petroleum products, with gasoline for June delivery rising 1.84 cents to $1.5145 a gallon and heating oil for June delivery gaining 3.73 cents to $1.4632 a gallon. The settlement above $50 "probably signals that last week's move was a false breakdown," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, Last week's steep drop in the price of oil came after the federal Energy Information Administration reported a surprisingly large increase in U.S. inventories and the Commerce Department released a disappointing first-quarter U.S. gross domestic product figure. U.S. inventories have been rising for weeks as OPEC producers continue to pump oil at record rates. OPEC members agreed in March to lift the group's official output ceiling to a record 27.5 million barrels a day. The move was intended to allow oil inventories in consuming countries to grow enough to bring prices below $50 a barrel.