Gold Drops to 1,223 After Positive NFP Boosts USD

Gold fell in New York as the dollar strengthened before U.S. jobs data that may add to signs the economy is improving, fueling speculation the Federal Reserve will scale back monetary stimulus.
The metal gained earlier this week as a record 23 percent slump in the second quarter spurred purchases. The dollar reached a five-week high against six major currencies before today’s employment report and after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney signaled they will keep borrowing costs at record lows.
Bullion slipped 26 percent this year, wiping $60.4 billion from the value of gold-backed exchange-traded product holdings, after some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value as Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank may slow asset purchases this year. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect data to show the U.S. jobless rate fell to 7.5 percent in June from 7.6 percent in May, with companies adding 165,000 positions last month after increasing them by 175,000 in May.

via Bloomberg

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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