By Gina Lee
Gold was up on Thursday morning in Asia, with investors turning to the yellow metal after a grim speech by U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
Gold Futures were up by a modest 0.28% at $1,721.25 by 12:08 PM ET (5:08 AM GMT).
Powell handed down a grim economic assessment during his speech on Wednesday, warning of a “significantly worse” U.S. recession than any downturn since World War Two as the COVID-19 virus continues to wreck economic havoc globally.
Stocks, which usually have an inverse relationship with gold, suffered a second day of retreats on Thursday.
Investors are now looking to the number of U.S. initial jobless claims, due to be released later in the day.
More than 31 million Americans have lost their jobs since the end of March.
