By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — Gold prices ripped higher again on Thursday after the Federal Reserve detailed plans to spend up to another $2.3 trillion in supporting the economy through asset purchases.

The plans gave more confidence to those playing the “currency debasement” trade, inasmuch as the Fed for the first time said it would buy high-yield corporate debt while also beefing up its plans to buy U.S. local government debt, as well as small business loans.

By 11:25 AM ET (1525 GMT), for delivery on the Comex exchange were up 2.9% at $1,732.95 a troy ounce, while was up 2.1% at $1,678.55 an ounce.

also rose 3.7% to $15.78 an ounce, their highest in nearly a month. rose 1.5% to $744.45.

The measures underlined the unprecedented extent to which the Fed is now underwriting private risk to keep the U.S. going through the Covid-19 pandemic. Powell said later that the economy would have to be on a “solid footing” before the Fed would contemplate easing up on its support measures.

The need for such measures was apparent in more grim economic data across the U.S. and Europe on Thursday. Another 6.61 million American filed initial claims for first-time benefits last week, down only marginally from an upwardly-revised 6.88 million a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan’s registered its biggest ever monthly decline – a full 18.1 points to 71 – in April as layoffs spread rapidly across the country.

In Europe, eurozone finance ministers reconvened to argue further over the desirability, or not, of joint debt issuance. The U.K. government, in a move that the euro zone will not be able to copy, signaled it will borrow directly from the central bank to fund its deficits in the short term, a move that was greeted in the local bond market more with relief than fear. Two- and 10-year U.K. Gilt yields fell by seven basis points.