The price of gold closed sharply lower again after touching below $700 an ounce in intraday trading. Gold for December delivery dropped to $705, down $13.30, after hitting as low as $698.20. In after hours, gold prices turned higher and reached above $930 an ounce. The move came as the dollar plunged against the euro and others amid comments from President George W. Bush that more difficult days are ahead for the economy. The dollar had touched a fresh 16-day high against the euro as Germany officially slipped into a recession. The buck also added to a six-year high versus the pound amid expectations that the Bank of England will slash rates. The metal closed nearly $30 lower than its finish from last week. In the bigger picture, gold has given back more than $225 over the last five weeks and has lost more than $300 from its record $1,033.90 from March. Crude oil also turned higher on Thursday and moved off of a 22-month low. Light sweet crude closed at $58.24, up $2.08 on the session. In economic news, the Department of Commerce released its report showing that the trade deficit narrowed to $56.5 billion in September from $59.1 billion in August. Economists had been expecting the trade deficit to narrow to $57.0 billion. Separately, a Labor Department report showed that jobless claims rose to 516,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 484,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to come in nearly unchanged compared to the 481,000 originally reported for the previous week.

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