Gold $1,330.5 -10.90 -0.81%

ICE Brent Crude Oil $106.23 +0.38 +0.36%

NYMEX Crude Oil $99.43 -1.28 -1.27%

West Texas Intermediate crude erased losses after measures of leading indicators raised optimism that a stronger U.S. economy will boost oil demand.

Prices were little changed after falling as much as 0.8 percent. The Conference Board’s gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months climbed 0.5 percent last month, the biggest gain since November. WTI followed gains in U.S. stocks as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rebounded. Crude fell earlier as the dollar strengthened and stockpiles grew for a ninth week.

“The market is very data dependent,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago. “Better economic reports raise expectations for oil demand. That’s supportive for oil.”

WTI futures for April delivery, which expires today, climbed 12 cents to $100.49 a barrel at 10:17 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more-active May contract rose 22 cents to $99.39. The volume of all futures traded was about 18 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day.

Brent for May settlement increased 28 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $106.13 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark was at a premium of $6.74 to WTI for the same month on ICE. The spread narrowed for a third day yesterday to close at $6.68, the smallest gap since March 7.

Gold prices decline fourth consecutive session under the pressure of rising U.S. dollar , following statements by the Federal Reserve that it will reduce its monthly bond purchases by 10 billion dollars .

Comments from Fed Chairman Janet Yellen on the results of the two-day meeting of the Open Market Operations The Fed also implies that interest rates may be increased by approximately six months after the bond-buying program .

Some investors took forecasts Yellen as a sign that the Fed may begin to raise interest rates sooner than expected.

In February, Yellen said that economic data should be really weak, so that the central bank was forced to slow down the decline in bond purchases. Recent data , including a strong February employment report , interrupted series of disappointing U.S. economic indicators , have been reported over the last few months.

The dollar had also released data on Thursday that the number of people who filed for first time unemployment benefits , rose slightly last week , but was lower than predicted by most experts.

The Labor Department said that for the week ending March 15 , the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted , while reaching 320 thousand Economists had expected the value of this ratio will rise to 327 thousand also add that the result for the previous week appeared unchanged.

Analyst Department of Labor said that there were no special factors that could have an impact on the overall result . Meanwhile, it was reported that more important indicator that " aligns " weekly volatility - the average number of calls in the last four weeks , down by 3.5 thousand to 327 thousand It was the lowest since the end of November.

The cost of the April gold futures on the COMEX today dropped to $ 1320.80 per ounce.