MW: Oil futures hit seven-month high after jobs data
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures soared above $70 a barrel Friday for the first time in seven months after the Labor Department reported that 345,000 payroll jobs were lost in May, a significant number but much lower than the 500,000 expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. Crude oil for July delivery rose $1.19, or 1.7%, to $70.02 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Earlier, the contract hit an intraday high of $70.32 a barrel. The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.4% in May, the government reported.
