Gold Prices Fall After 200K U.S. Jobs Created In January
(Kitco News)- Thegold market has fallen into negative territory on the day as the U.S. labormarket showed stronger-than-expected growth last month.
Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said 200,000 jobs were created in January.Economists were expecting to see job gains of 181,000. While the January numbers were better than expected, the report said that November employment was revised down to 216,000 jobs, compared to the previous level of 252,000 jobs; at the same time, December employment was revised up to 160,000, compared to the previous level of 148,000.
"After revisions, job gainshave averaged 192,000 over the last 3 months," the report said.
Goldprices were relatively flat on the day ahead of the report and have droppedsharply in initial reaction. April gold futures last traded at $1,343.50 anounce, down 0.33% on the day.
Asexpected the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% last month.
Whilethe headline number was better than expected, economists are focusing on a strongrise in wages last month, which a signal that inflation will start to pick up. Thereport said that average hourly wages increased 11 cents last month to $26.74,up 0.3% from December. Annual, wages are up 2.9%.
Gold is being weight down by a stronger U.S. dollar and higher bond yields in reaction to the data. U.S. 10-year yields have pushed to new multi-year highs at 2.83%. At the same time the U.S. Dollar Index has managed to bounce up from its recent three-year lows, last trading at 89.11.By Neils ChristensenFor Kitco News
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