2021.11.1818:00:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower

Gold futures settled lower on Thursday, retreating after closing at a five-month high in the previous session.

A weak dollar helped limit gold's downside. The dollar index dropped to 95.52, declining more than 0.3%, after hitting a 16-month in the previous session. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond edged lower as well, declining to 1.9713%.

Gold futures for December ended down by $8.80 or about 0.5% at $1,861.40 an ounce, off the session's low of $1,856.60.

Silver futures for December ended lower by $0.267 at $24.900 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.3045 per pound, gaining $0.0385.

Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims edged down to 268,000 in the week ended November 13th, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 269,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 260,000 from the 267,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the slight decrease and the revision to the previous week's number, jobless claims once again hit their lowest level since the week ended March 14, 2020.

A separate report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed a significant acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in the month of November.