Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures rose Friday after a report showed U.S. employers last month added the smallest number of jobs since September, spurring buying in the metal on worries about a further economic slowdown. Gold for August delivery, the most active contract, added $9.70, or 0.6%, to $1,542.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold gained 0.3% for the week. The range-bound week featured reports of progress in the resolution of euro-zone sovereign-debt issues, which dampened the dollar and supported gold buying. But it also included a dip for the metal on Thursday, following moderately positive data.

On Friday, the key U.S. nonfarm-payrolls report showed that job growth slowed to a crawl in May and the unemployment rate ticked higher. The disappointing macroeconomic data called into question the recovery and raised the specter of a double-dip recession. �The jobs report was abysmal,� said Charles Nedoss, a senior market strategist with Olympus Futures in Chicago. �There�s more safe-haven buying coming into gold,� as investors believe some type of stimulus will have to be forthcoming to counter job weakness and other persistent macroeconomic problems, he added. See full story.