Oil prices rose Monday as prospects for further cuts in U.S. interest rates seemed more likely after poor U.S. jobs data at the end of last week, the Associated Press reported. Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 80 cents to US$107.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. On Friday, the contract rose US$2.40 to settle at US$106.23 a barrel. In London, Brent crude futures rose 56 cents to US$105.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that employers cut payrolls by 80,000 jobs last month, much more than analysts had expected. The news that the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent is consistent with forecasts that the U.S. is experiencing a sharp pullback in economic growth in the first half of the year. In other Nymex prices, heating oil futures rose 2.97 cents to US$3.0218 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline futures added 1.47 cents to US$2.7714 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 9.9 cents to US$9.421 per 1,000 cubic feet.
