Gold prices remained largely subdued on Thursday even as the dollar shed some ground ahead of the crucial U.S. non-farm payroll data due on Friday.<\/p>\n
While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking to the jobs data to provide further evidence the central bank could cut rates as soon as March 2024.<\/p>\n
Economists currently expect U.S. employment to increase by 185,000 jobs in November after an increase of 150,000 jobs in October. The jobless rate is expected to hold at 3.9%.<\/p>\n
The dollar index, which dropped to 103.27 recovered to 103.40 subsequently, but still remained well below the flat line, losing about 0.6%.<\/p>\n
Gold futures for February ended down $1.50 at $2,046.40 an ounce.<\/p>\n
Silver futures for March ended lower by $0.169 at $24.059 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.7975 per pound, gaining $0.0630.<\/p>\n
“Having quickly reversed Monday’s surge and record highs, the yellow metal appears to have adopted quite a cautious stance ahead of the data,” says Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA, U.K. & EMEA. “A strong jobs report could see $2,000 come under strain while a Fed-friendly batch of numbers may propel it higher once more.”<\/p>\n
Data released by the Labor Department this morning showed a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended December 2nd.<\/p>\n
The report said initial jobless claims ticked up to 220,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 219,000. Economist had expected jobless claims to rise to 222,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week. <\/p>\n