WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices drifted lower on Thursday as the dollar strengthened against major currencies even as stock markets in the U.S. and Europe gave up early gains amid concerns about U.S.-China trade disputes.
Fairly strong quarterly earnings reports from top notch U.S. companies and data showing U.S. jobless claims dropped to the lowest level in almost 50 years last week contributed to the yellow metal's decline.
However, gold's downside was limited due to uncertainty about a U.S.-China trade deal happening anytime in the foreseeable future and ECB President Mario Draghi's comments about Eurozone growth outlook being tilted to the downside.
The dollar advanced to a more than 5-week high against the Euro after Draghi's comments. The dollar index rose to 96.32, gaining about 0.6%.
Gold futures for April ended down $4.30, or 0.3%, at $1,285.90 an ounce. On Wednesday, gold futures for April settled at $1,290.20, down $0.70 for the session.
Silver futures for March ended down $15.300 an ounce, down $0.080 for the session.
Copper futures for March ended down $0.0100, at $2.6445 per pound.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has commented that U.S. is 'miles and miles' from a trade deal with China. 'Frankly, that shouldn't be too surprising,' Ross said in an interview on CNBC's 'Squawk Box,' noting the U.S. and China have 'lots and lots of issues.'
The comments from Ross come ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He's trip to Washington next week for the next round of trade negotiations.
In U.S. economic news, a report from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in almost fifty years in the week ended January 19th. The report said initial jobless claims slid to 199,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 212,000.
The drop surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to rise to 220,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the Conference Board showed a modest decrease by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of December.
The Conference Board said its leading economic index edged down by 0.1 percent in December after rising by 0.2 percent in November. The slight drop by the index matched economist estimates.
'The US LEI declined slightly in December and the recent moderation in the LEI suggests that the US economic growth rate may slow down this year,' said Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Economic Research at the Conference Board.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
