Oil Surges on Positive U.S. Job Data

NEW YORK, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil price surged on Thursday as U.S. job data came beating expectation and lifting market sentiment.

The U.S. Labor Department reported the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell 7,000 to 395,000 last week. It is the first time for the weekly data to dip below 400,000 in four months, giving a sign of an improving job market and offering comfort to anxious investors.

U.S. equities rallied sharply, with all the three major indexes in Wall Street soaring nearly 5 percent. Market sentiment was obviously boosted by the job report.

And concerns about the European debt crisis and banks' financial problems were also eased by the news that the leaders of Germany and France, the biggest eurozone economies, will meet next week to discuss joint solutions.

But rumors about a credit rating downgrade for France lingered. Market confidence remained fragile.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 2.83 dollars, or 3.41 percent, to 85.72 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for September delivery edged up and last traded above 107 dollars a barrel.