Oil slides settles at $98

• Tweet

NEW YORK, May 7 (UPI) -- The price of crude oil in New York settled at $98.01 per barrel Monday, with pressure coming from European election results and U.S. economic data.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for June delivery slipped to $96.88 per barrel early in the day, before regaining some territory lost during the weekend. Monday's closing price was 64 cents lower than Friday.

Natural gas shed 1.5 cents to $2.321 per million British thermal units.

Home heating oil gained 0.26 cents to $2.984 per gallon.

Reformulated blendstock added 0.95 cents to $2.9836 per gallon.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline dropped from Sunday's $3.783 per gallon to $3.777, AAA said.

The U.S. Labor Department report on Friday posted a gain of 115,000 jobs in April and noted that far more people quit looking for work during the month -- 522,000 -- than found jobs.

During the weekend, voters in France rejected President Nicolas Sarkozy's re-election bid. Sarkozy was ousted by socialist Francois Hollande, who pledged to turn around Sarkozy's austerity-based economic strategy.

Stock markets were sharply lower in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan and breaking even in China. In Europe, stocks were mixed, with markets up in France and Belgium but lower in Germany and Britain.