Crude oil futures gained on Thursday as US jobless numbers reduced substantially. As per the latest report of US Labor Department, the jobless claims declined 398,000 as compared to 400,000.

Crude oil futures contract for September delivery gained $0.04 to $97.44 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange after touching its day’s highest of $98.01 per barrel.

However many factors added pressure on crude oil such as rising dollar and US debt ceiling talks. Market analyst Peter Esho from City Index Chief commented, “The U.S. debt issues are weighing on confidence. The political situation is really overshadowing market fundamentals. It has a spillover impact on sentiment, and the longer it goes on, the worse it is for confidence,” he further added, “Eventually, that drives lower economic activity, which impacts oil demand in the short term.”

Among other commodities gasoline futures contract for August delivery dropped $0.02 to $3.12 per gallon while heating oil futures contract for August delivery fell $0.02 to $3.11 per gallon.

Natural gas futures contract for September delivery dropped 1.7 percent or $0.07to $4.24 per million British thermal units.