NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures prices pared losses
Thursday after a government report showed new jobless benefit claims fell
from the prior week.
Initial jobless claims fell to 472,000 in the week to Aug. 28, down
from a revised higher 478,000 the previous week. [ID:nLLA2KE64D]
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October crude <CLV0> was down 38
cents, or 0.51 percent, at $73.53 a barrel by 8:38 a.m. EDT (1238 GMT),
trading from $73.13 to $74.19.
Before the report, crude prices were about 70 cents lower as traders
were cautious ahead of jobless claims and Friday's key August nonfarm
payrolls data. Also weighing on oil prices were high U.S. oil inventories.
(Reporting by Robert Gibbons; Editing by John Picinich)