Gold prices close to daily lows as jobless US weekly claims surprise on the upside

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(Kitco News) – The first weekly jobless claims were reduced to 209,000 on Saturday, exceeding expectations, the US Department of Labor announced.

According to a market consensus, the number of initial applications is expected to reach 216,000, as a result of a revised downward level of 221,000 disclosed the previous week.

Gold was down before publication, as prices fell slightly after the publication of weekly figures. In December, Comex 's gold futures traded for the last time at $ 1,504.20 per ounce, down 0.76% over the day.

The four-week moving average of new claims – often seen as a more reliable measure of the labor market as it dampens volatility week by week – went from 214,000 to the revised average of 214,000 last week.

Persistent jobless claims, which represent the number of people already receiving benefits, totaled 1,674,000 during the week ending August 10, down 54,000 from the revised 1,728,000 previous week, says the report. The four-week moving average has been reduced from 750 to 1,697,000.

Merchants are closely monitoring job data to determine how aggressive the US Open Market Committee is in changing monetary policy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday remains a focus of concern this week, said Jim Wyckoff, Senior Technical Analyst for Kitco.

"Technically, gold bulls have a strong overall short-term technical advantage … The first resistance is seen at a high of $ 1,518.40 today, then at a high of $ 1,523.60 from that week. The first support is visible at the bottom of this week, $ 1,503.00, then $ 1,500.00, "writes Wyckoff.