Gold moved higher, trading over $1,600 an ounce in overnight trading, and approached Tuesday’s nominal record high of $1,610.70, as China’s flash PMI indicator for July showed a jump in inflation before fading as trading shifted to London.

Also impacting gold overnight, investors remained cautious following news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reached an agreement on a second Greek bailout late Wednesday.  Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted as saying that a selective default on Greek debt couldn’t be ruled out.  EU finance ministers are meeting today as they try to work out details and come to agreement on the terms of a second Greek bailout.

A larger than expected rise in weekly U.S. unemployment claims was weakening the dollar in early Thursday trading, and spot gold responded by moving higher, trading at $1,597.90 Bid, $1,598.90 Ask in early market action.  The London p.m. fix was set at $1,601 an ounce.

Spot silver was trading at $39.82 Bid, $39.92 Ask early Thursday, having traded above $40 an ounce overnight in Asia.  The London silver fix price was set at $39.78, according to Kitco market data.

Turning to gold and silver investments on the equity markets, gold and silver ETFs were moving lower Thursday morning.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was down nearly 0.5%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was trading between 0.35% and 0.45% lower.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was down around 1.3%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were mixed, with the major gold miners fund (NYSE:GDX) moving higher, and the ETFs for junior miners (NYSE:GDXJ) and silver miners (NYSE:SIL) moving lower.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was up between 0.07% and 0.35%.
• The Market Vector Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was down around 0.1%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was trading between 1/4% and 1/2% lower.

Shares of gold mining majors and juniors were mixed, with Barrick (NYSE:ABX) and NovaGold (AMEX:NG) up over 1%.

• Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was nearly 0.2% higher.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was up around 1.3%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was moving lower and down more than 0.3%.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was more than 0.5% higher.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was up over 1%.

Silver mining shares were moving lower, with Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) off more than 1%.

• Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was down around 0.1%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was down some 0.7%.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS) was down some 0.2%.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW) was down more than 1.1%.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRI) was nearly 0.2% lower.

The author does not hold positions in any of the above-mentioned investments.