At 12:30 GMT, the US economy released the unemployment claims reading, at 0.898 million in the week ending October 10, worse than forecasts of 0.810 million, vs. 0.845 million in the previous week after it was revised from 0.840 million.

Crude prices dropped 4% as the US market opened on Thursday, to head for the first loss in 3 days, due to diminished hopes about the second Covid-19 relief package, which has stolen spotlight from a surprise drop in the US crude inventories preliminary data, while the official weekly report on inventories will be released later today.

The US crude fell 4% to $39.44 a barrel, after it opened at $41.06, and hit an intraday high of $41.27.

The US crude gained 2.25% yesterday, rising for the second straight day, thanks to hopes of improved demand in China.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that getting an aid package done before the November election and executing on that will be difficult, adding that  differences remained in his discussions with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the country's fiscal spending priorities.

These statements diminished hopes about resolving the complex political crisis over the new relief Covid relief package, which is expected to weigh down heavily on the US recovery path.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 5.4 million barrels during the week ending October 9, beating forecasts of a drop by 2.3 million barrels.

The total US commercial inventories fell to 492 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending April 10, in a positive sign of consumption levels.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release today the official data on inventories and production levels in its weekly report, with forecasts for inventories to drop by 2.1 million barrels.

As for the US production, it rose by 300K barrels per day, during the past week, to reach a total of 11 million bpd (the highest level since the week ending July 31).

Gold prices fell in the European market on Thursday, to resume losses after taking a breather yesterday, to fall once again below the $1,900 barrier, as the US dollar rose against a basket of major currencies. 

Gold prices fell over 0.6% to $1,889.88 an ounce, after opening at $1,901.96, with a session-high of $1,901.96.

 The yellow metal gained 0.6% yesterday, posting its first daily gain in 3 days, within recovery attempts from 1-week low of $1,882.39.

The US dollar index rose around 0.4% today against a basket of major currencies, and hit a 1-week high of 93.76 points, which weighs down on the prices of gold and other dollar-denominated metals.

Investors focused on the greenback as the best alternative investment, after hopes diminished about the new US aid package to be enacted before the presidential election early November.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that getting an aid package done before the November election and executing on that will be difficult, adding that differences remained in his discussions with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the country's fiscal spending priorities.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF rose 0.29 metric tonnes yesterday, to reach a total of 1,277.94 metric tonnes (the highest level since September 21).

European stocks opened lower on Thursday, to deepen losses for the third day, and hit a 2-week low amid broad sell-off and risk aversion as hopes of a new US fiscal stimulus faded, as well as the re-imposing of lockdown restrictions through out Europe to curb the the second Covid-19 wave spread.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell over 2.4% as of 11:18 GMT, and hit a 2-week low of 361.44 points, after it closed lower by 0.1% yesterday.

The pan European index opened lower today, to deepen losses for the third day, and hit a 2-week low, with most of the major European markets and sectors seeing red today.

The automotive sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, dropping around 4%, following the renewed concerns about the global economy..

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that getting an aid package done before the November election and executing on that will be difficult, adding that differences remained in the discussions between Republicans and Democrats on the country's essential priorities.

Fears of a second coronavirus wave continue to weigh down on the market sentiment, after the recent spike in infections in many parts of Europe, and especially after the French government declared the state of health emergency in the country and re-imposed lockdown restrictions as coronavirus cases rose above 9,000 for the first time since June 25.

S&P 500 futures fell 1.5% today, after the index closed lower by 1.8% yesterday at Wall Street, posting the second straight daily loss.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 2.5%, France's CAC 40 fell 2.1%, Germany's DAX lost 2.6%, and the UK's FTSE 100 fell 1.75%.