(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Gold $1,351.6 +13.60 +1.02%

ICE Brent Crude Oil $108.42 +0.66 +0.61%

NYMEX Crude Oil $101.96 +0.84 +0.83%

West Texas Intermediate crude, which fell the most in two months yesterday, held above $101 as the government reported that fewer Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week.

Prices were little changed after dropping as much as 0.9 percent. Jobless claims declined to the least since November, the Labor Department said. The euro strengthened to a two-month high against the dollar as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said inflation is expected to rise gradually. Futures are down almost $4 from a five-month high of $105.22 on March 3.

Applications for unemployment benefits decreased 26,000 last week to 323,000, fewer than any economist forecast in a Bloomberg survey. The four-week average, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, was 336,500 from 338,500 in the prior period.

The U.S., the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, will use 18.9 million barrels a day of oil this year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The euro jumped as much as 0.9 percent to $1.3857, the highest level since Dec. 27. A stronger euro and weaker dollar increase oil’s investment appeal. The ECB left its benchmark interest rate at 0.25 percent at its monthly meeting today in Frankfurt.

WTI dropped $3.47 in the previous two days. It reached the highest level since September on March 3 as tension between Russia, the world’s biggest energy exporter, and Ukraine spurred concern that global supplies would be disrupted.

Russia produced 9.9 million barrels a day of crude in 2012 and exported about 5 million, according to the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm

WTI for April delivery dropped 17 cents to $101.28 a barrel at 11:08 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was about 27 percent more than the 100-day average.

Brent for April settlement was down 4 cents at $107.72 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 27 percent above the 100-day average. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $6.44 to WTI. The spread ended yesterday’s session at $6.31.

Gold prices jumped a sharp growth in the euro against major currencies after a meeting of the ECB.

The European Central Bank on Thursday left interest rates unchanged , despite the extremely low inflation in the eurozone. This suggests that bank managers agree that pricing pressure will gradually increase without any serious further assistance from the central bank.

The European Central Bank raised its forecast for GDP growth in the 18 countries of the euro zone in 2014 to 1.2 % from December's 1.1%. At a press conference following the meeting held on Thursday, the bank said ECB President Mario Draghi .

At the same time, the ECB cut its inflation estimate for the current year from 1.1% to 1%. As the head of the ECB , it is connected to , including the expected decline in oil prices in the whole euro exchange rate stability .

" Eurozone a long period of low inflation, the gain will be gradual. But the decline in energy prices will support the real incomes of the population ," - said M.Dragi .

In 2015, the eurozone's GDP will grow by 1.5 %, while inflation accelerated to 1.3% , as expected in December. In addition , the ECB unveiled forecasts for 2016 and thus for the first time extended the forecast horizon of three years: economic growth in 2016 will be 1.8 %, inflation - 1.5% on average per year , but by the 4th quarter of the price increase will increase to 1.7% .

According M.Dragi , the ECB intends to keep key interest rates at or below the current for a long time .

Furthermore, the pressure on the U.S. dollar have data showing that the number of new orders fell in January, more than expected , along with a reduction in supply , which is another sign of the recent slowdown of industrial activity .

Ministry of Commerce announced that new orders for manufactured goods fell 0.7 percent in January. The figure for December was revised upward - to the level of -2 per cent, compared with 1.5 percent previously reported . Economists forecast that the number of new orders decreased by 0.4 percent.

The cost of the April gold futures on the COMEX today rose to $ 1347.40 per ounce.