CHICAGO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended lower on Thursday due to jobs data and J.P. Morgan Chase's good earning news. Silver and platinum went down, too.

    Gold price for June delivery dropped 13.70 U.S. dollars, or 1.5 percent, to settle at 879.80 dollars an ounce.

    The Labor Department said on Thursday that its initial unemployment claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 610,000 from a revised 663,000 the previous week, well below analysts' expectations of 655,000 and touching the lowest level since late January.

    Following Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase became the third big bank in this week to release better-than-expected earnings. The bank giant said on Thursday that it has earned 2.14 billion dollars for the first quarter, well above analysts' expectations and adding to the evidences that the U.S. financial industry is starting to recover from the huge losses.

    Both the jobs data and bank's unexpected performance reduced the gold's appeal as hedge assets to prevent economic risk.

    Analysts pointed out that pressure also came from Wednesday's news that the U.S. consumer price index slid 0.1 percent in March, indicating the inflation risk is fading and maybe deflation is coming. May silver finished at 12.255 dollars per ounce, down 54.5cents. July platinum dropped 9.20 dollars to 1,215.80 dollars per ounce.