Gold dropped again on Thursday, settling under $1,300 an ounce for the first time in six weeks. The metal retreated under pressure from stronger U.S. economic data, which boosted the U.S. dollar.
The Commerce Department revised fourth-quarter U.S. GDP growth upward from a prior estimate of 2.4%, to 2.6%, though the gain was almost entirely attributable to higher health care spending during the quarter. In a separate report, the Labor Department said that first-time unemployment benefit claims declined to a seasonally adjusted 311,000 last week. That was less than the 325,000 new claims economists had forecast.
Gold futures for April delivery fell 0.7% to $1,294.70 per ounce on Thursday, according to . Gold traded as high as $1,307.60 and as low as $1,291.20 Bullion closed in London at $1,294, according to .
Silver futures for May delivery slipped 0.4% to settle at $19.71 per ounce. Thursday’s high for silver was $19.87, while the low was $19.58.
Metal funds faded on Thursday.
- The SPDR Gold Shares () sank 0.7%.
- The iShares Gold Trust () declined 0.6%.
- The iShares Silver Trust () dipped 0.2%.
Mining ETFs improved during the day.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF () rose 1.4%.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF () gained 3.6%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF () added 1%.
Gold stocks mostly advanced on Thursday.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines () rose 1.9%.
- Barrick Gold () moved up 1.2%.
- Eldorado Gold () slipped 0.4%.
- Goldcorp () gained 1.3%.
- Kinross Gold () dropped 4.5%.
- Newmont Mining () slid 0.6%.
- NovaGold Resources () climbed 2.3%.
- Yamana Gold () increased 0.8%.
Silver mining shares gained during the day.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines () inched up 0.2%.
- Hecla Mining () climbed 2.6%.
- Pan American Silver () added 1.8%.
- Silver Wheaton () rose 1.6%.
- Silver Standard Resources () increased 1.9%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
