NEW YORK, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices slid to $87 per barrel in New York Thursday morning after the Commerce Department said durable goods orders dropped 2.5 percent in December.
The weak data drained some confidence out of the market, as did a move by credit rating agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade Japan's sovereign debt from AA to AA-.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March contract crude oil lost 31 cents to $87.02 per barrel. Home heating oil prices added 0.37 cents to $2.675 per gallon, while reformulated blendstock gasoline prices dropped 0.54 cents to $2.4512 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices lost 9.1 cents to $4.41 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline dropped to $3.101 per gallon Thursday from Wednesday's $3.106, AAA said.
