At 12:30 GMT, the US economy released its reading for the GDP, which shrank by 5% in Q1 on par with forecasts, at the worst pace since the 2009 global financial crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the previous reading showed growth by 2.1% in Q4 2019. 

The US dollar rose on Wednesday, to extend gains for the second straight day, on investors' risk-aversion, ahead of the release of key data on the US GDP reading for Q1, the weekly unemployment claims and the durable goods orders for May.

The dollar index rose 0.3% to 97.57 points, after opening at 97.24, and hit an intraday low of 97.16 points.

The index rose 0.5%, posting its first daily gain in 3 days, and rebounded from a 2-week low of 96.39 points.

Yesterday's gain is the largest in the two weeks, on strong demand due to warnings about a surge in coronavirus cases in the US and fears over the US-EU trade tensions.

The White House health adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned on Tuesday that parts of the US are seeing an alarming increase coronavirus cases, renewed fears about the world's largest economy's recession, and also shows how much more stimulus is needed to counter this crisis.

The Trump administration is considering imposing new tariffs on imports worth $3.1 billion from France, Germany, Spain and the UK, which could escalate trade tensions between the EU and the US.

Investors are anticipating key economic data releases today on the US GDP Q1 reading, the weekly jobless claims and the durable goods orders during May.

The US GDP quarterly reading will be released at 12:30 GMT, with forecasts for a contraction by 5.0% in first quarter of 2020 vs. a growth of 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Additionally, the US economy will release the unemployment claims reading, with forecasts to reach 1.320 million during the week ending June 20 vs. 1.508 million during the previous week.

The US economy closure since mid-March has led around 45 million American workers to apply for unemployment benefits, and pushed the US unemployment rate to its all-time high of 14.7% during April.

The US durable goods orders reading is expected to rise by 10.3% in May vs. a drop by 17.7% in April, and the core reading is expected to rise by 2.1% vs. -7.7%.

European stocks rose Thursday, to resume gains after pausing yesterday on profit-taking from 2-week highs, lifted by the automotive sector's gains, and the Euro drop against its counterparts, while the market digested the IMF gloomy global economic outlook.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.25% as of 11:12 GMT, after closing lower by 2.8% yesterday, on profit-taking from a 2-week high.

Alongside profit-taking, European stocks fell yesterday due to concerns over the escalating US-Eu trade tensions.

The pan European index opened higher today, near its 2-week highs, with most European markets and sectors seeing green today.

The automotive sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, with a rise by 2%, as the Euro dropped against its counterparts.

The global markets are parsing the latest International Monetary Fund's global outlook and warnings of high debt levels, after the fund estimated that the global GDP will shrink by 4.9% in 2020, which higher than the previous estimate in April of 3%.

S&P 500 futures lost more than 1.1%, after the index closed lower by 2.6% yesterday at Wall Street, after a surge in coronavirus infections in the US.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.3%, France's CAC 40 climbed 0.3%, Germany's DAX rose 0.4%, while the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.

Gold prices rose on Thursday, to resume gains after pausing yesterday on profit-taking, to rise near the 8-year high again today, but the US dollar's rally against its peers is curbing gold's gains.

Gold prices rose 0.5% to $1,768.89, after opening at $1,760.69, and hitting an intraday low of $1,754.36.

The yellow metal lost 0.4% yesterday, to post its first daily loss in 4 days, on profit-taking from 8-year high of $1,779.38.

Gold drew support today from strong safe haven demand, amid high risks in markets and investors aversion to high-yield assets.

This came after a surge in coronavirus cases in the US, which renewed fears that the world's largest economy's recession may be a longer than expected, and fears over the US-EU trade tensions.

The dollar index rose 0.2%, to extend gains for the second straight day, which weigh down on gold and other dollar-denominated metals.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF rose 7.6 metric tonnes yesterday, to reach the the highest level since May 2013 at 1,176.85 metric tonnes.