Natural-gas Futures Settle With 8% Gain; Oil Sinks a Sixth-straight Session

Natural-gas futures jumped 8% Thursday, their largest one-day percentage gain of this year, after U.S. government data showed a smaller-than-expected weekly climb in inventories of the fuel. Oil futures, meanwhile, fell for a sixth session in a row on the back of growing U.S. crude supplies and a potential slowdown in oil demand. September natural gas rose 21.3 cents, or 8%, to settle at $2.873 per million British thermal units. September crude lost 78 cents, 1.9%, to settle at $41.14 a barrel.