Oil Jumps Over $81 a Barrel
Oil jumped more than $1 to top $81 a barrel Friday following a government report that the unemployment rate held steady in February, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures rose $1.30 to finish the trading week on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $81.51 a barrel, the highest in almost two months.
Earlier Friday, the Labor Department reported the unemployment rate held at 9.7% in February. Analysts had forecast the rate to rise to 9.8%, Bloomberg reported.
Gasoline futures also rose with the higher crude prices, hitting a 17-month high on the Nymex, Bloomberg said.
Diesel and gasoline have both risen sharply over the past two weeks following five weeks of declines.
The Department of Energy will release its weekly price surveys of the two fuels on Monday afternoon in Washington.
