Gold prices were lower Thursday morning amid speculation that a decent U.S. jobs report could put the Federal Reserve back on track to raise interest rates this summer.
A June rate hike may be unlikely regardless of the April jobs report, but analysts say July will be in play if the jobs data signals that winter economic weakness was transitory.
The Labor Department is out with those figures tomorrow morning.
Gold was down 5 dollars at $1185 an ounce, having bounced back and forth around $1200 of late.
A sell-off in global equities is giving gold’s safe haven appeal a modest boost.
Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen cautioned about the high valuation of stocks and bonds.
The Labor Department is scheduled to release its jobless claims report for the week ended May 2nd at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect claims to have increased to 280,000 from 262,000 in the previous week.
The Federal Reserve is due to release its outstanding consumer credit report for March at 3 pm ET.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com