Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold dipped less than 0.1% to close under $1,513 after solid jobs data eased some concerns about the economy, sparking risk appetite. The metal ended the week with a gain of 0.4%.

US nonfarm payrolls added 136,000 jobs in September, and previous estimates for July and August were raised by a combined 45,000. Separately, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, the lowest in nearly 50 years.

Not all was rosy in the NFP report, however. Job growth was the slowest in four months, and most of the hiring was in low-paying jobs in the services sector. Manufacturing and retailing shed jobs.

Still, data was strong enough to settle market jitters caused by disappointing reports on manufacturing and services earlier this week. All three major US stock indexes added 1% as risk appetite revived.

Pressuring gold, the outlook for another rate cut from the Fed this month became a bit more hawkish after the NFP. CME FedWatch lowered the odds of another quarter-point reduction to 77% from 88% yesterday. Lower rates tend to support the metal by pressuring the dollar and reducing the opportunity cost for holding it.

The other precious metals were mixed for the day and week. Silver slid 0.3% today and 0.2% this week. Platinum fell 0.8% for a weekly loss of 5.3%. Palladium rose 0.8% today but fell 0.6% this week.

At the Comex close: December gold dipped 90 cents to $1,512.90; December silver dropped 5 cents to $17.63; January platinum slid $7.50 to $886.90; and December palladium rose $12.20 to $1,642.40 an ounce.