Gold and silver reversed course from yesterday’s sharp drop and were trading higher Thursday morning, as U.S. employment conditions showed continued improvement and inflation pressures remain contained.

Spot gold was up 1.16%, having traded as high as $1,726.10 per ounce and as low as $1,701.10. The London morning reference price was fixed at $1,721, $67 per ounce lower than Wednesday’s afternoon reference price, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was showing a 1.27% gain, bid at $35.08 per ounce with an ask price of $35.18. The morning high as of time of writing was $35.56 and the low was $34.38. Thursday’s reference price was set at $34.56 in the London a.m., $2.67 per ounce below Wednesday’s reference price.

Seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 351,000 the week ended Feb. 25, a weekly decrease of 2,000, according to this week’s Labor Department report. The four-week moving average declined to 354,000, 5,500 claims lower than the previous seek’s revised average of 359,500.

Personal income rose a slightly less than expected 0.3%, to $37.4 billion, while disposable personal income increased 0.1%, to $14.1 billion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures also rose a slightly less-than-expected $23.2 billion, or 0.2% for the month. Real PCE price index excluding food and energy, the Federal Reserve Board’s preferred inflation barometer, increased 0.2%, while the Real PCE Index including food and energy rose less than 0.1%.

The price of gold bullion rallied in Asia overnight and was moving higher in London morning trading Thursday, recovering more than a third of Wednesday’s $100-per-ounce fall, according to BullionVault’s London Gold Market report.

“Yesterday’s plunge in physical and gold futures pricing ‘makes it quite clear that the previous rise … had been driven mainly by speculation,'” Commerzbank’s commodities team said.

Turning to U.S. stock exchange trading, gold and silver trusts were showing healthy gains.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was moving higher, up around 1.5%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was showing gains of around 1.5%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was up nearly 1.3%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs also were moving up sharply.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was up around 1%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was showing gains of around 1.15%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was up nearly 1.4%.

Gold mining shares were moving higher.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was showing gains of around 1.3%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was up around 0.9%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was up around 0.85%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was around 1.35% higher.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) was up some 0.8%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was up around 1%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was unchanged.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) was up between 1.3% and 1.4%.

Silver mining shares also were showing gains Thursday morning.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was moving higher, up between 0.6% and 0.8%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was up 0.2%.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was showing gains of some 0.7%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was up more than 0.55%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was showing slight gains of less than 0.1%.

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.