Gold prices up over 1% on dovish Fed minutes. U.S. stocks lower on downbeat trade data from China and better-than-expected jobless claims. Gold last traded at $1,320 an ounce. Silver at $20.09 an ounce.

The sell-off in stocks was renewed in earnest today in the wake of minutes from the last Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting.

All the major stock indices, particularly the tech-heavy NASDAQ, are sharply lower thus far and the price of gold is up more than $13.

The minutes suggested officials will be cautious on increasing interest rates going forward.

Ordinarily this would buoy stocks, but not right now. The stock market action is being dominated by continuing worries about high-tech stocks and a flurry of disappointing earnings reports.

The Federal Reserve’s flip-flopping statements on monetary policy bode well for gold.

Today the markets were also greeted with the news that claims for unemployment had plunged to their lowest levels since 2007. But, the devil is in the details and the details suggest this number does not represent a trend.

The issue at hand has to deal with seasonality. The drop in jobless claims may be more the result of statistical quirkiness than a dramatic improvement in the job market. The problem is these numbers are notoriously volatile around March and April. Unemployment claims for this time of year are historically impacted by holidays, such as spring break, Easter and Passover. It remains to be seen whether this is the start of a trend.

Meanwhile, China’s economy lost momentum in the first quarter and growth in 2014 could fall short of the government’s official target . This could jeopardize global growth as many world economies are dependent on China for both the supply and demand side of the equation. It is no wonder millions of Chinese are turning to gold.