Daily Gold Update

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold dipped 0.2% to close just above $1,341 as the dollar ticked up on last week's better-than-expected U.S. jobs data, reducing demand for alternative stores of value.

The economy added 255,000 new jobs in July, according to the Labor Department's report released last Friday, and June's total was revised upward by 5,000. They strong data boosted hopes that GDP may accelerate in the third quarter after Q2's disappointing 1.2% and Q1's anemic 0.8%

The dollar rose 0.1% as traders speculated that strong jobs data will improve the odds of a Fed rate hike sometime this year. Higher rates support the dollar, in turn weighing on gold and other commodities denominated in it for international trade.

CME FedWatch increased the likelihood of a September hike to 18%, up from 12% before the jobs data, while December now shows a 45% chance, up from 29% late last week.

Gold losses were stemmed by negative sentiment for global growth after China's imports and exports fell in July. Imports plunged by more than 12%, year over year, signaling a substantial falloff in domestic demand. Exports dropped more than 4%, largely because of global Brexit fallout.

The other precious metals were mostly lower, with silver and palladium dropping 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively, while outlier platinum picked p 0.3%.

At The Comex close: December gold dipped $3.10 to $1,341.30; September silver dropped more less than 2 cents to $19.80; October platinum added $3.90, to $1,155.40; and September palladium lost $3 to $ 693.30 an ounce.