Gold Falls On Correction From Wednesday’s Gains

Gold futures are poised to decline as signs of increasing momentum in the U.S. labor market crimped demand for the precious metal as a haven.

Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, sending the average over the past month to an eight-year low. Gold headed for the third drop in four days.

In July, gold fell 3 percent on concern that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner than expected. The economy expanded at a 4 percent annualized rate last quarter, compared with a revised 2.1 percent drop in the first quarter, data showed on July 30. Russia placed import bans on an array of food goods from the U.S. and Europe, striking back at sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.

“Good economic data will continue to put pressure on gold, even as it gets a temporary reprieve” from the Ukraine conflict, Mike Dragosits, a senior commodity strategist at TD Securities in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. “The long-term fundamentals are negative.”

Gold futures for December delivery declined 0.2 percent to $1,305.90 an ounce at 9:15 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Yesterday, the price reached a one-week high of $1,311 on escalating Ukraine tensions.

Jobless claims declined by 14,000 to 289,000 in the week ended Aug. 2 from 303,000 in the prior period, government data showed today. The median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 304,000.

via Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza