By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude was up $1.17 to $80.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract jumped $4.01, or 5.3 percent, to finish at $79.68 per barrel in New York on Wednesday.
In London, Brent crude was up 63 cents to $103.38 on the ICE Futures exchange. Earlier in the week, oil dropped to the lowest level since September 2010 as Europe's financial crisis dragged on.
Stronger equity markets in Asia and Europe also helped lift crude prices, with investors often considering equities as a barometer of economic sentiment.
Oil prices also were supported by Wednesday's release of data on U.S. stockpiles by the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. Draws of 4.7 million barrels in crude stocks and of 1.1 million barrels of gasoline stocks contradicted analysts' expectations. But they said the positive effects of the stockpile data would likely be short-lived. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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