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Gold futures traded modestly lower on Thursday, with investors expecting the metal to take its next directional cue from the monthly U.S. jobs data due Friday, but prices held onto a climb for the week after recently climbing to their highest level in three weeks.
Silver prices, meanwhile, moved lower, heading for a second straight decline after a nearly 3% loss on Wednesday.
Price action
-
Gold futures
GCZ23,
-0.26%
for December delivery fell 80 cents, or nearly 0.1%, to $1,720 per ounce on Comex after trading as low as $1,734.20. Prices for the most-active contract settled Tuesday at $1,730.50, the highest since Sept.12. -
December silver futures
SIZ22,
+0.52%
fell 6.4 cents, or 0.3%, to $20.48 per ounce, extending a pullback into a second straight session after ending Tuesday at $21.099, their highest since late June. -
December palladium
PAZ22,
+1.09%
climbed $51.60, or 2.3%, to $2,307.50 per ounce, while January platinum
PLF23,
+1.27%
rose $7.90, or 0.9%, to $922.50 per ounce. -
Copper futures
HGZ22,
-1.71%
for December delivery traded at $3.495 per pound, down nearly a penny, or 0.2%.
What’s happening
Gold has been paring its gains from earlier in the week due to a rebound in Treasury yields
TMUBMUSD10Y,
and the dollar, analysts said. The 10-year Treasury climbed 5 basis point to 3.814%, while the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
rose 0.4% to 111.88 in Thursday dealings.
“A weaker jobs report tomorrow could give it another boost but even that may prove to not be sustainable, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Investors will receive an update on the strength of the U.S. labor market on Friday when nonfarm payrolls data for September are released.
On Thursday, the number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week jumped by 29,000 to a five-week high of 219,000, possibly a sign of rising layoffs as the U.S. economy slows. The Federal Reserve has been lifting interest rates to try to tame inflation, which contributed to a rise in the dollar — pressuring dollar-denominated gold prices.
“The recently established 2022 lows [for gold] leave the path of least resistance lower,” analysts at Sevens Report Research wrote in Thursday’s newsletter. Gold futures on Sept. 26 settled at $1,633.40, the lowest since April 2020.
“However with renewed hopes that we have reached peak hawkishness, gold could be primed for a relief rally off the [year to date] lows,” they said. The key level to watch on the charts is the August high of $1,819, as “a close above would be a
bullish development from a technical standpoint.”
