WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - Gold prices are higher Thursday morning with investors looking ahead to some key US economic reports, including the data on weekly jobless claims and existing home sales. Though global equities have steadied, concerns over the ongoing unrest in Ukraine support the yellow metal. Gold futures for June are up USD9.90 or 0.77% at USD1,298.00 an ounce, supported by encouraging data on Chinese manufacturing activity in May. On Wednesday, gold futures ended down USD6.50 or 0.5% at USD1,288.10 an ounce. Silver for July is up USD0.255 or 1.32% at USD19.593 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper is up USD0.28 or 0.91% at USD3.151 per pound. Investors will be looking ahead to the jobless claims data from the US Labor Department, due at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect claims to have increased to 310,000 from 297,000 in the previous week. At 9:45 am ET, Markit will release flash estimate of its manufacturing index for May. The consensus estimate calls for an increase in the index to 55.9 from 55.4 in the previous month. The National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its existing home sales report for April at 10 am ET. Economists expect existing home sales to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.69 million units compared to a 4.59 million unit rate in March. Around the same time, the Conference Board is due to release its leading economic indicators index for April. Economists expect a 0.4% month-over-month increase in the leading economic indicators index.

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