Gold was trading lower while silver was moving higher early Wednesday as the Department of Labor reported that the July Producer Price Index rose 0.4%, the highest since January, while European Union consumer price inflation fell 0.6% month-over-month in July and totaled 2.5% for 2011 to date.

A meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy was perceived as disappointing in that nothing of new substance resulted in terms of coming to grips with the EU’s budgetary and sovereign debt problems.

Spot gold was trading at $1,790.10 Bid, $1,791.10 Ask early Tuesday, with the London PM fix set at $1,790. Spot silver was trading at $40.32 Bid and $40.42 Ask, having been set at $40.02 in the London AM, according to Kitco market data.

On tap for Thursday are the Consumer Price Index, the weekly jobless claims report, money supply, the Philadelphia Fed survey and the leading economic indicators report, as well as additional quarterly earnings reports.

Turning to exchange trading, gold and silver trusts were higher.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was up nearly 0.3%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was more than 0.2% higher.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was around 0.7% higher.

The gold miners ETFs were showing strong gains early Wednesday.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was around 1.8% higher.
• The Market Vector Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was up around 2%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was up 2.8%.

Shares of gold miners were up strongly as well.

• Agnico Eagle Mines (USA) (NYSE:AEM) was up around 2.3%.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was around 1.5% higher.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was more than 1.9% higher.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was up more than 1.5%.
• NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) was more than 2.3% higher.

Silver mining shares were moving up sharply, with Pan American Silver (PAAS) showing gains of more than 4% early Wednesday.

• Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was up more than 2.1%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was more than 1.8% higher.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was surging, up more than 4.2%.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) was more than 2.1% higher.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was up between 0.2% and 0.25%.

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