FEDERAL RESERVE

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, a government report showed on Thursday, pointing to more healing in the nation's battered jobs market.

Stock index futures were little changed on Thursday as investors looked ahead to weekly jobless claims data, one last clue about the state of the labor market before Friday's key non-farm payrolls report.

Many analysts remain bullish on gold and expect it to continue to rally in 2012.

Employers hired fewer workers in January than they did in December, showing companies and banks that lend to them remain concerned U.S. economic growth will cool after expanding rapidly in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a survey of economists.

Gold rose on Wednesday as the dollar slipped against the euro and on strong global manufacturing data, while analysts said profit taking could pressure the precious metal after its biggest January gain in 32 years.

A top Federal Reserve official sharply criticized the U.S. central bank's decision last week to telegraph ultra low interest rates for nearly three more years, saying on Wednesday the move undermined confidence and caused confusion.

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Gold rallied for a second day on Wednesday as the euro rebounded following upbeat German economic data, building on gains in January that marked the metal's strongest starting month in 32 years.

It's hardly a huge surprise: those Federal Reserve officials that made careers in the financial sector are much wealthier than their colleagues, according to new disclosures on Tuesday.

Gold prices were on course for their biggest monthly rise since August on Tuesday, boosted by economic unease in Europe and the United States and raising the possibility of a climb toward last year's record high of just over $1,900 per ounce.

For a central bank that wants to make transparency its hallmark, the Federal Reserve's new forecast of nearly three more years of super-low rates has left room for a few doubts.

More than two-thirds of banks in a Federal Reserve survey of senior loan officers said they had tightened credit to European financial firms in January, underscoring the continent's severe banking crisis.

U.S. consumer spending was flat in December as households put the largest rise in income in nine months into their savings, potentially signaling slower consumption early in 2012.

Gold eased on Monday, under pressure from a weaker euro, but was off session lows and still within sight of last week's seven-week highs, supported by evidence of improved investor demand.

Consumer spending was flat in December as households took advantage of the largest rise in income in nine months to boost their savings, setting the tone for a slowdown in demand early in 2012.

In a remarkable statement to CNBC this morning, one of the most important dissenting voices within the Federal Reserve said the U.S. central bank's assesment of the economy is too pessimistic, and will likely change as the year progresses. Even more notably, he stated the Fed will likely begin raising benchmark interbank lending rates before mid-2013 -- a direct contradiction on a statement by the Fed last Wednesday.

Asia's central bankers have yet another reason to hesitate now that the U.S. Federal Reserve looks likely to keep interest rates low for longer.

Gold prices slipped Monday as the euro fell, global stocks declined and investors booked profits from recent gains.

India, the world's fourth-largest oil consumer, will not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday during a visit to Chicago.

The U.S. Department of Defense cannot account for about $2 billion in Iraq development funds made available to it by the government of Iraq, and it hasn't been able to furnish a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, two new government audits have found.

Gold ticked lower Monday after earlier rising to its highest in more than seven weeks as investors awaited the outcome of Greece's debt deal talks, but sentiment was supported by a firmer euro and lower-than-expected U.S. growth data.