Gold futures rose early Thursday, recovering part of their prior-day more than
$9-an-ounce loss as energy prices firmed and some of the worry stemming from the changing power structure in Washington eased.

Gold for December delivery was last up $6.90 at $625.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed lower Wednesday as traders reacted to the Democratic Party sweep of Congress by consolidating recent gains.

"Despite yesterday's pullback the outlook remains positive, with oil holding above $58/barrel and the potential impact on the dollar following Tuesday's mid-terms," said James Moore, analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.


Meanwhile, the dollar traded mixed against major currencies, gaining against the yen but falling against the euro, after the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed by 6.8% in September to $64.3 billion. Economists had expected a deficit of $66.3 billion. The U.S. trade deficit with China widened to a record $23.0 billion.

Separately, the Labor Department said prices of imported goods dropped 2% in October. Economists had expected prices to drop 1%.
Silver futures were last up 14 cents at $12.69 an ounce. Platinum rose $24.70 to $1,192 an ounce and palladium was up $3.70 to $332.10 an ounce. Copper added 2.85 cents to $3.273 a pound.

On the supply side, gold inventories were down 64 troy ounces at 7.53 million troy ounces as of late Wednesday, according to Nymex data. Silver supplies rose by 570,336 troy ounces to 107.4 million and copper supplies rose by 159 short tons to 25,664 short tons.