Futures Pros – Gold futures extended losses on Thursday, dropping to a seven-day low lower ahead of a policy setting meeting by the European Central Bank as well as key U.S. employment data, while silver continued to plunge after yet another margin rate hike by the CME Group. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery traded at USD1,503.95 a troy ounce during European afternoon trade, dropping 0.82%. It earlier fell as much as 1.3% to USD1,496.35 a troy ounce, the lowest price since April 26. The European Central Bank was expected to prepare markets for a possible rate hike, with investors waiting to see if ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet would use the phrase "strong vigilance" to signal a follow-up rate rise in June after last month’s rate increase. Meanwhile, the U.S. was to publish official data on initial jobless claims, while Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was to speak at a public engagement. Elsewhere, silver for July delivery plunged 3.9% to trade at USD37.92 a troy ounce during late European afternoon trade, after earlier dropping by as much as 5.3% to USD37.34, the lowest price since April 1. The CME Group, operator of the Comex raised the amount of cash that traders must deposit for speculative positions for the fourth time in eight days, it announced late Wednesday. The CME increased the so-called initial margin to USD18,900 per contract after raising it to USD16,200 per contract on Monday. Margins have increased 84% since Friday, April 29, pushing small investors out of the silver market as it raises the cost to trade a futures contract. Silver prices have lost approximately 25% over the past five sessions, wiping out gains from the previous three weeks that took prices to a 31-year high of USD49.81 on April 25. The volatile movement in silver prices recently has added to ongoing speculation that big Wall Street banks have been manipulating silver prices.

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