Gold Futures Settle Lower Ahead Of Jobs Data
(RTTNews) - Gold futures settled lower on Thursday, losing ground after fairly strong gains in recent sessions, as the dollar rebounded from recent losses. Still, gold's downside was just modest as worries about potential trade war prompted investors to pick up the safe-haven commodity.
The dollar found support ahead of release of crucial U.S. jobs data.
The dollar index climbed to 108.10 in the New York session, extending earlier gains. However, the index retreated as the session progressed and was at 107.61 a little while ago, netting a loss of 0.13 or about 0.8%.
Gold futures for February ended down $15.60 or about 0.54% at $2,856.00 an ounce.
Silver futures for February settled at $32.518 an ounce, losing $0.339 or about 1.03%.
Copper futures for February climbed to $4.4485 per pound, gaining $0.0140 or about 0.32%.
The Labor Department's jobs report, due on Friday, is expected to show an addition of 170,000 jobs in January. In December, jobs by 256,000 jobs in December.
A report released by the Labor Department today showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended February 1st.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 219,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 208,000.
Economists had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 213,000 from the 207,000 originally reported for the previous week.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed U.S. labor productivity and unit labor costs both increased by less than expected in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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