NYMEX January Crude Futures Settled 88 Cents Lower at $85.89/Barrel Thursday

NYMEX January crude futures settled 88 cents lower at $85.89/barrel Thursday, while the rest of the complex also declined on a weak equities performance and US dollar strength.

January heating oil settled 2.31 cents lower at $2.9437/gal and January RBOB ended the session down 4.44 cents at $2.6021/gal.

On ICE, January Brent settled down $1.59 at $107.91/b.

Analysts said the complex and equities fell due to weaker-than-expected US retail sales that weighed on overall sentiment.

US retail sales rebounded in November, up 0.3% after a 0.3% decline in October but that was less than market expectations of a 0.5% gain.

The US Dollar Index on ICE was up about 12 points by the NYMEX settle, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 82 points weaker. The S&P 500 Index was about 11 points lower.

"A recovery in the US dollar after a Wednesday drop prompted some selling," energy analyst Tim Evans of Citi Futures Perspective said in a note. He added that news from Europe was "generally positive," with an agreement on ECB banking supervision and successful debt auctions in Spain and Italy providing some underlying support to futures.

"That said, we note that current European economic performance remains a worry with fiscal austerity and a cycle of bank deleveraging becoming more institutionalized and a drag on growth," Evans said.

In early trade, the complex pared gains from Wednesday as an initial rally on the US Federal Reserve's fresh stimulus pledge fizzled.

The decline from highs came after US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said late Wednesday that monetary stimulus would not offset the impact of a failure to avoid the fiscal cliff, noted analyst Addison Armstrong of Tradition Energy.

"Given the lack of progress this week by the administration and Congress on that issue, the gloom cast by the chairman's comments is weighing on share prices around the world," Armstrong said in a note.

In the US, initial weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest level in two months, down 343,000 from the prior week's revised 372,000 for the week ending December 8, the Labor Department said.

Also, the Producer Price Index for finished goods fell 0.8% in November. Prices for finished goods decreased 0.2% in October and rose 1.1% in September.