NEW YORK, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices slid to under $86 per barrel in New York Thursday 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 $1.99 to $85.34 per barrel. Home heating oil prices shed 1.62 cents to $2.6551 per gallon, while reformulated blendstock gasoline prices dropped 3.96 cents to $2.417 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices lost 17.4 cents to $4.327 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.