West Texas Intermediate crude advanced after U.S. retail sales climbed, bolstering the outlook for the economy of the world’s biggest fuel-consuming nation.

Futures gained as much as 0.8 percent. Commerce Department data show purchases rose 0.7 percent last month, the most since June. Equities and commodities dropped yesterday on speculation that a two-year U.S. budget accord will increase the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will curb bond buying. The Fed may begin cutting stimulus at its Dec. 17-18 meeting, according to 34 percent of economists surveyed Dec. 6 by Bloomberg.

WTI for January delivery rose 28 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $97.72 a barrel at 11:01 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 15 percent below the 100-day average. Futures are up 6.4 percent this year.

Brent for January settlement slid 78 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $108.92 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 13 percent lower than the 100-day average.

Gold prices decline amid falling stock markets and a rise in the dollar because of the fear reduction incentives Fed soon.

The Fed will hold a meeting on December 17-18 , and many investors believe , based on recently published in a strong U.S. macroeconomic statistics , the central bank announced the beginning of the reduction program of buying bonds at this meeting.

Investors awaited a weekly report on the number of applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. to assess the state of the world 's largest economy .

Recent data from the Ministry of Labor showed that the number of people who applied for the first time unemployment benefits rose sharply last week. However, experts note that the Thanksgiving Day holiday could distort the data.

According to the report , the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 68,000 in the week ended Dec. 7 , at the same level reached 368,000 . Add that it was the biggest jump in this indicator over a year . Economists forecast that the number of complaints rise to the level of 321 thousand to 298 thousand , which was originally reported last week.

Stocks of the world's largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold (ETF) SPDR Gold Trust on Wednesday declined by 2.1 tons to 833.61 tons - the minimum volume since the beginning of 2009.

Cost February gold futures on the COMEX today dropped to $ 1224.20 per ounce.

Gold $1,252.80 -4.40 -0.35%

Oil $97.37 -0.07 -0.07%