Daily Gold Update

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold tumbled 1.7% to close at a one-week low above $1,344 after robust U.S. jobs data boosted risk-appetite and reduced demand for safe haven assets. The metal finished the week 0.9% lower.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 255,000 jobs in July, more than forecast, and June's total was revised upward by 5,000. While unemployment remained unchanged at 4.9%, the uniformly strong data support expectations for stronger economic growth in the third quarter after Q2's disappointing 1.2%.

Stocks jumped on the upbeat report, with the S&P 500 adding 0.8% to hit an all-time high. The Dow did even better, rising nearly 1%, and the Global Dow added 0.8%.

The dollar added 0.4% as traders speculated that the data may encourage the Fed to hike interest rates sometime this year. Higher rates boost the dollar, pressuring gold and other commodities denominated in it for international trade by making them more expensive to users of other currencies.

CME FedWatch now has the odds of a December hike at 39% after the NFP report, up from 29% yesterday but still far below the 50% probability before last week's dovish FOMC meeting and weak GDP report.

The other precious metals also fell. Silver dropped more than 3% while platinum and palladium lost 1.2% and 1.4%, respectively.

At the Comex close: December gold fell $23 to $1,344.40; September silver lost 63 cents to $19.82; October platinum dropped $13.50 to $1,151.50; and September palladium slid $9.70 to $696.30 an ounce.