Gold Trims Gains After U.S. Job Report Release

Cassie Bastien

5/5/2017 1:43:02 PM

Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 05/05/2017

Myra Saefong and Mark Decambre with MarketWatch said Gold prices remained in positive territory after “April’s strong job report was seen keeping the Federal Reserve on a path of higher interest rates,” which could happen as soon as next month. According to FactSet data, Gold prices are off 3.1 percent, representing its steepest weekly fall since the period ended Nov. 11, while Silver prices are staring down a 5.2 percent slide, marking its worst weekly decline since the week ended October 7. In better news, government data showed around 211,000 new jobs were added in April and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 percent from 4.5 percent, setting a post-recession low. Saefong and Decambre explained, “Labor-market data are significant for Gold traders because it is one of the economic reports closely followed by the Fed as the central bank determines the pace of its monetary-policy-normalization initiative.” The Fed's policy update Wednesday confirmed two additional interest rate increases this year. Higher interest rates tend to be bullish for the dollar and bearish for commodities pegged to the currency.

Silver ETF Extends Longest Losing Streak

According to CNBC, Silver has hit a 14-session losing streak. Along with Gold, the gray metal has fallen in recent weeks due to many different reasons, but primarily political uncertainty. However, some strategists say it is time to buy it for a bounce. iiTrader Senior Market Strategist Bill Baruch said Thursday on CNBC's "Trading Nation", "I think Silver is very attractive, after getting killed the way it has," adding Silver prices appear to be a "bargain" as they retest December lows. In other news, Stacey Gilbert, head of derivative strategy at Susquehanna, said Sunday's French presidential election could send Silver prices even lower. Polls indicate centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron will defeat the far-right's Marine Le Pen, whose victory would likely mean further European instability. Nonetheless, Gilbert said, “…hard economic data must begin showing more positive signs before investors write off owning safe-haven assets completely.”

At 2:42 p.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,229.60 Down $0.30
• Silver, $16.39 Up $0.03
• Platinum, $912.00 Up $03.30
• Palladium, $818.70 Up $13.10

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