Gold and Silver Reach New Highs for 2012 (GLD, SLV)

On Thursdays, gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for April delivery jumped $15 to settle at $1,786.30 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures surged $1.30 to close at $35.56.  It is the highest close for gold since November, and the highest for silver since late September.

The U.S. dollar (NYSE:UUP) declined, as the euro climbed to an intra-day high of $1.334.  According to the Labor Department, U.S. workers filed 351,000 initial claims for state unemployment benefits last week, holding steady at the lowest levels since March 2008.

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The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, fell 7,000 to 359,000 — also the lowest since March 2008. The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 52,000 to 3.392 million in the week ended February 11, to the lowest level since August 2008.  Despite the positive data, gold and silver investments marched higher.

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In afternoon trading, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) traded slightly higher, while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) jumped 2.9 percent.  Gold miners (NYSEARCA:GDX) such as Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) and Goldcrop Inc. (NYSE:GG) gained 2.7 percent and .20 percent, respectively.  Silver miners such as Endeavour Silver (NYSE:EXK) and First Majestic (NYSE:AG) both climbed more than 1 percent higher.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Eric McWhinnie at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com