Gold and silver were moving higher Thursday morning, with silver moving sharply higher as the Labor Department reported weekly jobless claims at their lowest level in four years and German business confidence rose to an unexpected seven-month high in February.

Spot gold was up 0.3% Thursday morning, having traded as high as $1,786.10 per ounce and as low as $1,771.90. The London afternoon fixed reference price came in at $1,777, $22.25 per ounce higher than Wednesday’s morning price fix, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was showing a 2.16% gain, bid at $35 with an ask price of $35.10. The morning high as of time of writing was $35.22 and the low was $34.47. Thursday’s reference price was set at $34.55 in the London a.m., 47 cents per ounce above Wednesday’s reference price fix.

Seasonally adjusted weekly claims for unemployment insurance totaled 351,000 for the week ended Feb. 18, unchanged from the previous week’s revised figure. The four-week moving average fell to 359,000 — its lowest level in four years and a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised figure.

February German business confidence rose more than consensus expectations, as the Ifo Institute’s business climate index reached a seven-month high of 109.6, up from 108.3 in January. Elsewhere, some of Europe’s largest banks, including Commerzbank, Credit Agricole and RBS, wrote down the value of and booked losses on their Greek government bond holdings to bring them in line with the recently agreed upon Private Sector Initiative debt-swap agreement.

Gold bullion and precious metals rose across the board in London morning trading Thursday, with an ounce of gold at its highest dollar price since mid-November, BullionVault reported in its daily London Gold Market report.

“The outlook remains bullish with a further gap up today,” one London dealer was quoted today, noting the dollar-price jump above $1,780 seen at the start of European gold trading.

Gold trusts were higher, and the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was up sharply Thursday morning.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was moving higher, up around 0.25%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was showing gains of nearly 0.3%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was up around 2.2%.

The gold and silver mining ETFs were showing strong gains.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was around 1.2% higher.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was showing gains around 1.1%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was up around 2%.

Gold mining shares were moving up broadly, with Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) the exception.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines was showing losses of around 0.15%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was up around 0.75%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was up some 1.55%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was around 1.25% higher.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) was up more than 0.4%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was up nearly 1.5%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was up more than 1.1%.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) was up more than 3.7%.

Silver mining shares were showing strong gains for the most part, with Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) lagging.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines was up nearly 0.15%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was nearly 0.75% higher.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was showing gains of around 1.3%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was up some 2.45%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was about 2.7% higher.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.