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Gold futures headed higher Monday morning, putting the yellow metal on track to add to its gains toward its highest level in a month and a half as commodity investors harbor doubts about U.S. economic vitality.
Gold for December delivery GCZ19, +0.08% on Comex gained $2.10, or 0.1%, to $1,513.40 an ounce after notching a 0.4% weekly advance based on the most-active contracts.
December silver SIZ19, +0.38% added 10 cents, or 0.6%, at $18.160, following a 1.1% weekly gain booked on Friday.
The trading action come even as stocks appeared ready to head toward records after a hotter-than-expected jobs report on Friday showed 128,000 jobs created in October, with the S&P 500 SPX, +0.41%, Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.43% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.51% poised to all hit new highs if their current gains hold up.
Risk assets like equities tend to be fall when gold prices are advancing and vice versa.
The moves were puzzling to commodity experts as well.
“Not sure, either, other than technical posture remains overall bullish,” Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst Kitco.com told MarketWatch.
Naeem Aslam said part of the reason for the gains for gold, despite bullish moves for a stocks, was that the health of the U.S. economy remains a question for some bears.
“It is important to keep in mind that the overall US economic docket does paint a pessimistic picture,” he wrote in a Monday report.
Indeed, the Institute for Supply Management’s October manufacturing activity index came in at 48.3% in October, below expectations for a 49% reading, but above the 47.8% seen in September. Any reading below 50% indicates contraction.
“If manufacturing continues to suffer it would take down the labor market and the only solution to this problem is the cease-fire between the US and China,” he said.
The strategist said that gold holding above $1,500 for an extended period is a bullish sign for those upbeat on gold prices.
