Gold and silver futures rose Thursday after data showed a big increase in claims for U.S. unemployment benefits, raising economic worries and increasing the precious metals' value as a safe asset. Copper fell. Gold for June delivery gained 80 cents, or 0.1%, to $893.30 an ounce, while May silver gained 10 cents, or 0.8%, to $12.405 an ounce. May copper lost 1 cent, or 0.5%, to $2.049 a pound. First-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose a seasonally adjusted 27,000 to 640,000 in the week ended April 18, the Labor Department reported Thursday. For the week ended April 11, the number of people collecting state unemployment benefits reached another new record of 6.14 million.

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