Daily Gold Update

Source:Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures rose as much as $21 an ounce Thursday, attempting to recoup part of the more than 2% loss they suffered in three sessions, as crude-oil futures jumped higher and a batch of U.S. economic data pushed the dollar lower. Gold for June delivery surged $20.80 to $887.30 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It reached an intraday high of $888. The price of the contract fell $3.10 on Wednesday. It dropped $19.30, or 2.2%, between May 9 and Wednesday.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported that the number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose 6,000 to 371,000, on a seasonally adjusted basis, in the week ended May 10. The four-week average of initial claims, which smoothes out one-time factors such as bad weather or holidays, fell 1,000 to 365,750. See full story.