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Gold prices edged higher on Thursday as the yellow metal looked to pare some of its losses from earlier in the week brought on by Federal Reserve Chairman’s Jerome Powell’s two-day testimony to Congress.
Price action
-
Gold for April delivery
GC00,
+0.88% GCJ23,
+0.88%
gained $16.50, or 0.9%, to $1,835.10 per ounce on Comex. -
Silver for May delivery
SI00,
+0.59% SIK23,
+0.59%
rose by 12.4 cents, or 0.6%, to $20.275 per ounce. -
Palladium for June delivery
PAM23,
-0.85%
declined by $11.10, or 0.8%, to $1,351 per ounce, while platinum for April
PLJ23,
+1.00%
increased by $16.70, or 1.8%, to $957.30 per ounce. -
Copper prices for May delivery
HGK23,
+0.12%
added about half a cent, or 0.1%, to $4.0315 per pound.
Market drivers
After a hectic week, dominated by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar in the wake of comments by Powell on the need for higher interest rates, trading on Thursday was “quieter,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco, in emailed commentary, as investors awaited Friday’s U.S. jobs report for February.
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expect the data to show 225,000 jobs were created last month, compared with the prior month’s blowout 517,000 number.
“Look for higher volatility in many markets is the non-farm jobs print misses expectations,” said Wyckoff.
On Thursday, U.S. government data showed that the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in early March jumped to a 10-week high of 211,000.
This goes “against the recent trend of a strong U.S. labor market,” as people applied for more unemployment-related benefits than expected, said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, in market commentary. “But this weekly data is quite volatile, and the Fed looks at the trend of the data than individual figures on their own.”
On Wednesday, payroll services firm ADP reported that private sector payrolls rose 242,000 in February and the official non-farm payrolls reports have been beating expectations every month since last April, he said.
“So, you get the picture — the U.S. jobs market is strong, and this is a worry for the Fed looking to reign in on inflationary pressures,” said Razaqzada.
Now it’s all about Friday’s U.S. jobs report and then CPI next week, he said. “If these macro pointers both come in hotter, or at least match expectations, then that could further raise bets over a 50-basis point rate increase at the Fed’s March 22 meeting.”
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