Gold rose more than 1% after the release of US labor market data, but then lost some ground on profit taking and renewed strengthening of the dollar.
The Labor Department said that employment growth in the US slowed more than expected in August after two consecutive months of steady gains and moderate wage growth. The number of people employed in the non-agricultural sector of the US economy has grown by 151 000 jobs after a growth of 275,000 in July. At the same time employment in the manufacturing industry and the construction industry declined. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent, as more people entered the labor market. Economists had forecast a rise in the number of employees by 180 000 last month, and a decrease in the unemployment rate to 4.8 percent. Other details of the report showed the pace of growth in labor force participation remained unchanged at 62.8 percent. Lower employment growth came after the economy has created a total of 546,000 jobs in June and July.
The smaller-than-expected wage growth also likely reflects the difficulties of data adjustment for seasonal variations. Over the past few years, in August, the government estimates of the number of jobs have been weak and subsequently revised upwards.
“The presented data on employment put an end to the probability of raising the Fed rate in September, – says Joe Manimbo, Western Union analyst -. Will they be raised later in the year it depends on whether the US GDP growth will accelerate after the weakness in the 1st half of the year” . As it is known, higher interest rates tend to have a downward pressure on gold.
In addition, data showed that the reserves of the world’s largest gold exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Shares were down yesterday by 0.57 percent, to 937.89 tonnes.
The cost of the October futures for gold on COMEX rose to $ 1318.7 per ounce.
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