Gold and silver continued to move lower Thursday morning. More encouraging signs regarding the U.S. economy came in the form of the Labor Department’s report on last week’s new jobless claims, which fell to a seven-month low, while the Commerce Department reported that permits for residential construction rose 10.9%, though new home construction fell 0.3% in October.

In Europe, the European Central Bank continued to support euro zone government bonds by purchasing debt securities off France and Spain, which held treasury auctions. However, the results were deemed “lackluster” by one euro zone bank bond market analyst.

Spot gold was down more than 1% around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, while spot silver was more than 2.6% lower.

Spot gold was bid at $1,743.40 per ounce, with an ask price of $1,744.40, down sharply from its morning reference price fixing for a second day. Gold traded as high as $1,751.20 and as low as $1,731.20. The London morning reference price was set at $1,756, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was bid at $32.81 per ounce, with an ask price of $32.91. The morning high as of time of writing was $33.32, and the low was $32.34. Monday’s reference price was set at $33.30 in the London a.m.

Gold and silver trusts were trending lower Thursday morning.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was more than 1% lower.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was about 1.05% lower.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was down between 2.5% and 2.8%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were showing sizable morning losses.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was down about 1.3%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was around 1% lower.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was some 0.75% lower.

Shares of gold and silver miners were showing losses.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was about 0.7% lower.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was showing losses between 1.5% and 1.6%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was down around 1.3%.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was some 1.15% lower.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was down between 0.75% and 1% after yesterday’s spike higher.

Silver mining shares were heading lower, with Hecla Mines (NYSE:HL) the exception.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was between 0.15% and 0.4% lower.
• Hecla Mining was up about 0.2%.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS) was down nearly 1.1%.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW) was some 1.9% lower.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down nearly 3.7%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.