Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold prices closed lower Thursday, extending the previous session�s decline, as a drop in U.S. jobless claims last week and a better-than-expected improvement in consumer sentiment helped drive gains in the U.S. stock market. February gold futures fell $3, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,610.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. �Weekly jobless claims, December consumer sentiment and November leading economic indicators all came in better than expected,� said Darin Newsom, a senior analyst at Telvent DTN. �This continued to take a little bit of the �safe-haven� wind out of gold�s sail.�

On Thursday, a gauge of consumer sentiment reached 69.9 in the final reading for December, compared with 64.1 in November, according to data released from the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters. The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment-insurance benefits stood at its lowest level since April 2008. First-time filings for claims fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 364,000 in the week ended Dec. 17. Also, the Conference Board said Thursday that data suggest that the economy will continue to grow this winter and possibly pick up momentum by spring. The private research group�s index of leading economic indicators grew 0.5% in November. See full story.