Oil steadies above $50, eyes equity markets for directions

* Oil steadies above $50, eyes equity markets

* U.S. economy still under strain - Obama

* IMF to cut global forecast, sees 2010 recovery-paper

PERTH, April 20 - Oil steadied at above $50 a barrel on Monday, as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach ahead of the next batch of corporate earnings and looked for more data to gauge how the world economy was faring.

Warnings by U.S. President Barack Obama that the country's economy remains under strain and moves by his top economic adviser to temper hopes for a speedy recovery prevented oil prices from rising further.

U.S. crude for May delivery edged lower by 15 cents to $50.18 by 2233 GMT. The contract settled 35 cents higher at $50.33 on Friday, buoyed by news of a rebound in U.S. consumer confidence and better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

"Oil prices look like its struggling to find a reason to push higher from current levels. If the equity markets can maintain their upward momentum, then that will be a supportive factor for oil," said Toby Hassall, head of research at Commodities Warrants Australia.

"Otherwise, oil may face some downward pressure since the fundamentals remain very weak and inventories are still rising."

Oil's gains last week were buoyed by optimism that the U.S. economy was recovering, with a survey showing that U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in April to the highest levels since September.

But a torrent of corporate earnings this week is threatening to swamp Wall Street's recent impressive rally, as results so far have shown the corporate outlook remains murky and investors worry that better-than-expected results from banks still don't prove the sector is stable.

President Obama said on Sunday that the U.S. economy remained under strain and his top economic adviser Paul Volcker cautioned that the country's economic recovery would be a "long slog" although the rate of decline is going to be slow.

Adding to more downbeat news, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was quoted on Sunday as saying the agency would cut its global economic forecasts in the coming week, but that he expected a recovery to start in the first half of next year.

Oil, which has plummetted nearly $100 from its peak of over $147 last July, has hovered around $50 for most of this month and gains have been limited by a stronger U.S. dollar, weak demand and rising crude stocks, which in the United States have reached their highest level in nearly 19 years.

OPEC will be taking a big risk if it does not make a further adjustment to oil supply, a newspaper quoted Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil as saying on Sunday.

Crude oil speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange decreased net long positions in the week to April 14, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.