NEW YORK—Oil futures advanced for their fourth straight session, boosted by signs of progress toward shoring up financial stability in the euro zone.
France and Germany plan to unveil a plan to address Europe's sovereign-debt woes, while Franco-Belgian bank Dexia SA agreed to a bailout package. The headlines boosted sentiment across markets and helped extend a rally in crude that followed Friday's news that U.S. employers hired more workers than expected last month.
"The one thing we've learned in this economic crisis is that bailouts are bullish," said Phil Flynn, oil analyst at PFG Best in Chicago.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $1.59, or 1.9%, to $84.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe traded up $1.16, or 1.1%, to $107.04 a barrel.
Crude futures rose on news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will unveil a solution to Europe's debt crisis by the end of the month. The reports bolstered sentiment in the oil market, which has been roiled by worries that Europe's debt woes are spreading and undercutting crude-oil demand.
"We'd probably be up more if we had more of a clear idea of what they were planning," Mr. Flynn said.
The news helped send Nymex crude as high as $84.92 a barrel Monday, the highest trade since Sept. 22. The contract is up nearly $10 a barrel from lows reached just last week, bolstered by a string of encouraging macroeconomic headlines out of both Europe and the U.S.
On Friday, the Labor Department said U.S. employers added 103,000 jobs in September, a much higher number than economists expected. The report eased oil traders' fears that the economy of the world's biggest crude consumer is headed for a double-dip recession, which would further erode demand.
Such fears have haunted the oil market for much of the summer, sending prices for benchmark crude on the Nymex tumbling from their high of nearly $115 a barrel reached in May. The earlier-than-expected return of Libyan oil exports has also eased the pressure on prices and helped to narrow the wide gap between Nymex and Brent crude, the benchmark used widely in Europe.
The gap on Monday stood at about $22.50, down from an all-time high of about $26 a barrel last month.
"This remains a headline driven [market] that appears poised to react to the latest headlines of the euro zone, the U.S. or China," said Jim Ritterbusch, head of the oil trading advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.
Front-month November reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently traded up 3.78 cents, or 1.5%, to $2.6854 a gallon. November heating oil traded up 2.23 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.8881 a gallon.
