Gold futures closed back above $1,300 an ounce on Friday to score a gain for the week after analysts said data showing U.S. jobs growth in March coming in slightly under expectations fueled the view of a more dovish Federal Reserve.
Prices for the yellow metal also got a boost from “continued consolidation in the stock market” and it saw “a little extra juice due to the fact that it was a bit oversold after a rough couple weeks,. Gold prices logged losses in each of the previous two weeks.
Gold for June delivery jumped $18.90, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,303.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Tracking the most-active contracts, prices saw the highest close since March 25 and climbed roughly 0.7% for the week.
May silver gained 14 cents, 0.7%, to end at $19.95 an ounce, pulling back from an earlier high of $20.23. Prices were up 0.8% for the week.
March nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 in March, versus expectations for gains of 200,000, while some economists had expected even higher numbers. Both January and February payrolls were revised higher, but the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7%, while economists expected a slight dip to 6.6%.
The slight miss on the downside for jobs growth in March falls into the camp of the U.S. monetary policy doves, . That’s a bullish underlying factor for the precious metals. The February non-farm payrolls figure was upwardly revised by a modest amount, and that somewhat mitigated the slight miss on the March payrolls number.”
Gold traders believe that the weaker-than-expected job numbers will force the Federal Open Market Committee to curtail tapering of quantitative easing and extend the process before actually raising rates.
“As far as I can tell, this ship has sailed. FOMC had a chance to restrain taper and chose not to in February and March, with worse data points than an 8,000 miss on jobs,one can expect FOMC to follow through with its communicated plan, continue tapering by $10 billion tranches until they are no longer purchasing assets each month and then adjust bias towards tightening, which should actually occur mid-2015.
Gold gave up a chunk of its recent gains as the dollar moved up after the European Central Bank’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged.QE is on the way in the EU so now we will see gold move with the dollar for that reason. The ICE U.S. dollar index was little changed from a day earlier.
Gold and Silver miners moved higher along with gold, with the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index adding 1.2% Friday afternoon. It traded 0.5% higher for the week. The SPDR Gold Trust rose 1.2%, setting itself for a gain of 0.7% on the week.
Copper slips; platinum upElsewhere in metals trading, high-grade copper for May delivery fell half a cent to $3.02 a pound. Prices were down about 0.6% from the week-ago close.
Falling copper prices are preventing the big rise in silver,We prefer to use caution for silver unless there is a convincing break of $20.45.
July platinum edged up by $5.40, or 0.4%, to $1,450.90 an ounce — around 3.1% higher on the week. June palladium added $1.90, or 0.2%, $790.75 an ounce, with prices logging a climb of roughly 2.2% for the week.
In a note dated Thursday, analysts at HSBC said they continue to have a “bullish bias” towards platinum prices and expect the average price to reach $1,595 an ounce in 2014, with the South African strikes among the key support factors for the metal. A little more than 60% of South Africa’s platinum production, representing approximately 45% of global output, has been idle since late January, they said.
HSBC also kept its 2014 price forecast of $825 an ounce for palladium on rising automotive demand from China and North American.
Prices for the yellow metal also got a boost from “continued consolidation in the stock market” and it saw “a little extra juice due to the fact that it was a bit oversold after a rough couple weeks,. Gold prices logged losses in each of the previous two weeks.
Gold for June delivery jumped $18.90, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,303.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Tracking the most-active contracts, prices saw the highest close since March 25 and climbed roughly 0.7% for the week.
May silver gained 14 cents, 0.7%, to end at $19.95 an ounce, pulling back from an earlier high of $20.23. Prices were up 0.8% for the week.
March nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 in March, versus expectations for gains of 200,000, while some economists had expected even higher numbers. Both January and February payrolls were revised higher, but the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7%, while economists expected a slight dip to 6.6%.
The slight miss on the downside for jobs growth in March falls into the camp of the U.S. monetary policy doves, . That’s a bullish underlying factor for the precious metals. The February non-farm payrolls figure was upwardly revised by a modest amount, and that somewhat mitigated the slight miss on the March payrolls number.”
Gold traders believe that the weaker-than-expected job numbers will force the Federal Open Market Committee to curtail tapering of quantitative easing and extend the process before actually raising rates.
“As far as I can tell, this ship has sailed. FOMC had a chance to restrain taper and chose not to in February and March, with worse data points than an 8,000 miss on jobs,one can expect FOMC to follow through with its communicated plan, continue tapering by $10 billion tranches until they are no longer purchasing assets each month and then adjust bias towards tightening, which should actually occur mid-2015.
Gold gave up a chunk of its recent gains as the dollar moved up after the European Central Bank’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged.QE is on the way in the EU so now we will see gold move with the dollar for that reason. The ICE U.S. dollar index was little changed from a day earlier.
Gold and Silver miners moved higher along with gold, with the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index adding 1.2% Friday afternoon. It traded 0.5% higher for the week. The SPDR Gold Trust rose 1.2%, setting itself for a gain of 0.7% on the week.
Copper slips; platinum upElsewhere in metals trading, high-grade copper for May delivery fell half a cent to $3.02 a pound. Prices were down about 0.6% from the week-ago close.
Falling copper prices are preventing the big rise in silver,We prefer to use caution for silver unless there is a convincing break of $20.45.
July platinum edged up by $5.40, or 0.4%, to $1,450.90 an ounce — around 3.1% higher on the week. June palladium added $1.90, or 0.2%, $790.75 an ounce, with prices logging a climb of roughly 2.2% for the week.
In a note dated Thursday, analysts at HSBC said they continue to have a “bullish bias” towards platinum prices and expect the average price to reach $1,595 an ounce in 2014, with the South African strikes among the key support factors for the metal. A little more than 60% of South Africa’s platinum production, representing approximately 45% of global output, has been idle since late January, they said.
HSBC also kept its 2014 price forecast of $825 an ounce for palladium on rising automotive demand from China and North American.