Gold Drops After Positive US Employment Data

Gold fell the most in a week as declining U.S. jobless claims signaled a strengthening economy and cut demand for haven assets.

The fewest Americans in seven years filed applications for unemployment benefits last week as the labor market continued to improve. Gold prices tumbled 28 percent in 2013, the biggest annual decline since 1981, as equities rallied and the U.S. economy accelerated.

Bullion holdings through exchange-traded products reached the lowest since 2009 this week as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value after the Federal Reserve cut stimulus. Fed Chair Janet Yellen addresses the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today

“Jobless claims dropping below 300,000 is a big deal and people are getting convinced that the economy is showing signs of recovery,” Phil Streible, a senior commodity broker at R.J. O’Brien & Associates in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “People don’t need to invest in a safe-haven asset like gold when the economy is doing just fine.”

Gold futures for June delivery dropped 0.7 percent to $1,296.20 an ounce at 8:48 a.m. on the Comex in New York, heading for the biggest loss since May 7.

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