Daily Gold Update

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold jumped 2.4% to close just under $1,170 after a disappointing jobs report weakened the dollar and increased safe-haven demand.

The U.S. non-farm payrolls report showed 214,000 jobs were added in October, a solid number but below forecasts. Unemployment rate dipped from 5.9% to 5.8% but wage growth was softer than expected, with 60% of the new jobs paying less than average wages. Many economists view persistently depressed wages as the major obstacle to a full-blown U.S. recovery.

The dollar fell against most major rivals after traders digested the employment data, which is expected to ease pressure on the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates sooner than mid-2015, as widely expected. A weaker dollar makes gold less expensive to users of other currencies because it is denominated in dollars for overseas trade.

Today's surge was a welcome reprieve for the metal, which had traded lower for the seven previous sessions as the dollar trended relentlessly higher. Announcements of deeper monetary easing in Japan and the likely start of quantitative easing in the Eurozone drove the greenback's rally over the past week.

Lower global gold prices are expected to rekindle physical demand in China and India, the world's biggest gold buyers, according to Standard Chartered PLC. Indian imports are expected to rise as much as 75% in the fourth quarter because of the traditional festival and wedding seasons. Gold demand in China is forecast to rise by 20% over the next three years, according to World Gold Council research.

The other precious metals tracked higher with gold. Silver rallied nearly 1.8% while platinum and palladium rebounded by 1.6% and 2.6%, respectively.

At the Comex close: December delivery jumped $27.20 to $1,169.80; December silver rallied 30 cents to $15.71; January platinum picked up $18.60 to $1,215.70; and December palladium rebounded by $19.85 to $772.45 an ounce.