WTI pares early losses, climbs above $42.50 in early American session

• Crude oil prices gained traction after making a technical correction.
• Iraq announced that it will make additional output cuts in August.
• Weekly Initial Jobless Claims in the US declined by 249K.

Crude oil prices closed the fourth straight day in the positive territory on Wednesday and staged a technical correction in the first half of the day on Thursday. After dropping to $41.50 area, however, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained traction during the American session and was last see gaining 0.9% on the day at $42.55. 

Iraq further reduces oil output in August

Earlier in the day, Iraq's oil ministry and state oil marketer announced in a statement that Iraq will lower its oil output by an additional 400,000 barrels per day to compensate for its overproduction, as reported by Reuters. Iraq further reiterated that it's committed to the OPEC+ agreement and provided a boost to crude oil prices.

Meanwhile, the data published by the US Department of Labor showed on Thursday that the weekly Initial Jobless Claims declined by 249,000 to 1,186,000 in the week ending August 31st. With this data keeping hopes alive for a steady recovery in the energy demand outlook, the WTI preserved its bullish momentum.

Technical levels to watch for