Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold slipped 0.3% to close just above $2,036 despite downbeat jobs data and higher yields as the dollar gained ground for a second session, undercutting alternative stores of value.

US job openings tumbled in October to a 28-month low in a further sign that the red-hot labor market is cooling. Considered a reflection of the demand for workers, the number of job openings each month has been falling since 2022 because of higher interest rates.

A primary goal of the Fed’s rate-hike cycle has been to cool inflation by cooling the job market. ADP’s private-sector jobs data and the government’s nonfarm payrolls, which will be released on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, should give a clearer idea of the health of the labor market and therefore the near-term direction of interest rates.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell to below 4.2% as investors sought out the perceived safety of government debt. Concerns about global growth helped to motivate the flights after Moody’s issued downgrade warning on China’s credit rating because of excessive debt and unstable real estate market.

Also weighing on yields in the US, yields in Europe fell after Isabel Schnabel, a hawkish ECB member, signal said rate cuts are on the table in 2024. The dovish shift pressured the euro and pulled down yields on German bunds.

The dollar rose 0.3% on the weaker euro, pressuring gold and other commodities priced in it for global trade by making them more expensive in other currencies.

The other precious metals were also lower, with silver sliding 1.4% while platinum and palladium lost 2% and 4.1%, respectively.

At the Comex close: February gold dipped $5.90 to $2,036.30; March silver slid 36 cents to $24.55; January platinum fell $18.50 to $906.60; and March palladium declined $40.40 to $940.30 an ounce.