Stocks opened higher Thursday, but a positive weekly jobless claims report wasn’t helping gold or silver. The Labor Department reported initial unemployment claims for the week of Dec. 17 fell to a 44-month low of 364,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised 368,000. The department also reported a decrease of 8,000 from the revised previous week’s four-week moving average of 388,250. In its third, final revision, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis revised real Q3 GDP down 20 basis points to 1.8%.

Spot gold was trading 0.85% lower around 10:50 a.m. Thursday morning, with a bid price of $1,601.20 per ounce and an ask price of $1,602.20. Spot gold traded as high as $1,613.90 and as low as $1,596.50. The London afternoon reference price fix came in at $1606.50, down $2 per ounce from yesterday’s price fixing, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was down nearly 0.9%, bid at $29.06 per ounce with an ask price of $29.16. The morning high as of time of writing was $29.48, and the low was $28.93. Thursday’s reference price was set at $29.30 in the London a.m., 45 cents lower than yesterday’s reference price.

Gold was little changed in London morning trading, changing hands at around $1,610 an ounce, BullionVault reported in its London Gold Market Report.

“A drying up of liquidity poses a serious risk to all commodities, including gold,” read Thursday’s commodities note from Standard Bank, which noted the “elevated level” of interbank interest rates in Europe.

“There has been a lot of disappointment with gold in the fourth quarter, especially from those who were banking on the metal’s safe haven properties, given the escalating situation in Europe,” UBS strategist Edel Tully told Financial Times.

Turning to exchange trading, gold and silver trusts were showing losses.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was showing losses of around 0.6%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was down around 0.5%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was around 0.7% lower.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were heading south as well.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was nearly 0.9% lower.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was down some 2.7%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was nearly 0.8% lower.

Gold mining shares were lower across the board.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was showing losses of between 1.2% and more than 1.3%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was down nearly 0.8%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was some 0.7% lower.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was around 0.9% lower.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was some 2.6% lower.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was down around .1.7%.

Silver mining shares also were lower, with Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) shares continuing to lose value after last week’s accident at its Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was moving lower, down 0.9%.
• Hecla Mining was down 3%.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was down around 0.2%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was showing losses of around 1.5%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down nearly 2%

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.