April gold futures are expected to open floor trading in New York around $2 an ounce higher Thursday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver is expected to be down 10 cents an ounce. At 7:55 a.m., EST, spot gold was trading down $4.10 to $979.55. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is at $1.2700 from $1.2530 late Wednesday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the March S&P 500 futures are up 11.50 points to 791. March crude oil is up $1.36 to $35.98 a barrel in overnight activity. Thursday will be a busy day on the U.S. economic front. Reports include: - the January Producer Price Index at 8:30 a.m., EST (1330 GMT), forecast to be up 0.3%, but up 0.1% for the core rate excluding food and energy; - first-time weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m., EST (1330 GMT), expected to dip 1,000 to 622,000; - the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index at 10 a.m., EST (1500 GMT), with the February business activity index forecast to be minus 25 after a minus 24.3 reading last month; - Conference Board's January Leading Economic Indicators at 10 a.m., EST (1500 GMT), expected to be up 0.2%; and - weekly energy inventory data at 11 a.m., EST (1600 GMT). In New York Wednesday, gold futures rallied markedly late in the floor session to erase early losses as market worries continued to drive safe-haven investment in the metal. April gold rose $10.70 to settle at $978.20 an ounce, while March silver rose 28 cents to $14.29. Comex gold warehouse stocks were up 19,496 ounces at 8,448,486 ounces Wednesday, while silver stocks were up 958,485 ounces at 124,751,390 ounces.

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