Gold Edges Higher After Jobs Report

By Amrith Ramkumar and David Hodari

Gold prices edged higher Friday after the latest monthly U.S. jobs report showed the economy added fewer jobs than expected while unemployment ticked lower.

Front-month gold for August delivery added 0.3% to $1,214.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have fallen in seven of the past eight weeks and are near their lowest levels since July 2017, hurt by a stronger dollar that has gold more expensive for overseas buyers and worries that higher Treasury yields will make the metal less attractive to investors.

Analysts said Friday's report should keep the Federal Reserve on track to continue gradually raising interest rates with wage growth and inflation still in check.

Some think that trend will continue to hurt gold, which some investors favor when they think inflation might spike or uncertainty will hurt other assets like stocks.

"I think this report underpins the Fed's resolve," said George Gero, managing director at RBC Capital Markets, who expects the central bank to raise rates two more times this year.

The dollar inched lower Friday, giving gold a slight boost. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of 16 other currencies, was recently down 0.2%.

Among base metals, front-month copper for August delivery rose 1% to $2.7535 a pound. Trade barbs between the U.S. and China have stoked worries that protectionism will lower demand for industrial materials and lower prices, sending the red metal down 16% from its June four-year highs.

Write to Amrith Ramkumar at [email protected] and David Hodari at [email protected]