By Claudia Assis and Nick Godt, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures came under pressure early Thursday, as investors shifted to stocks, oil and other assets seen as riskier after a drop in U.S. jobless claims helped offset a recent rise in concerns about the economy.
Gold for December delivery receded $2.30, or 0.2%, to $1,239 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold also pulled back after hitting a seven-week high on Wednesday, as fears of economic gloom and doom supported gold and pushed silver to its best finish in eight weeks.
Silver for December delivery, the most active contract, added 6 cents, or 0.3%, to $19.15 an ounce on Thursday.
Seasonality favors gold in the third quarter, analysts at JPMorgan said in a note Thursday. They added that both long-term and short-term prospects for gold miners are positive.
The day's data stream improved after the U.S. government reported a bigger-than-expected drop in the number of people filing for unemployment insurance in the latest week. See Economic Report on jobless claims.
Jobless claims fell 31,000 to 473,000 in the latest week, the first drop in one month. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected initial claims to drop to 490,000.
U.S. stocks also staged a rebound amid bargain-hunting and as investors started to look to the yearly retreat of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo. for some sort of direction in policy that might help boost the global economy.
After a late turn-around on Wednesday, the Dow industrials (DJIA 10,073, +12.79, +0.13%) opened up 23 points higher, while the S&P 500 (SPX 1,059, +3.21, +0.30%) gained 0.4%. See Market Snapshot for more on U.S. stocks.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to give his outlook on the U.S. economy on Friday.
The dollar index (DXY 82.77, -0.49, -0.59%) , which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six major counterparts, declined 0.7% to 82.68.
