Oil slides under $97 per barrel

The price of crude oil in New York dropped under $97 per barrel Monday, with pressure coming from European election results and U.S. economic data. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for June delivery gave up $1.61 and slipped to $96.88 per barrel. Natural gas added 4.7 cents to $2.326 per million British thermal units. Home heating oil shed 3.37 cents to $2.9751 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline gave up 1.68 cents to $2.959 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. Over 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.