Gold futures edged higher on Friday as investors awaited the release of the U.S. employment data for May, one of the last significant data points for the Federal Reserve to consider before its next interest rate decision on June 14.
Price action
-
Gold futures for August delivery
GC00,
+0.06%GCQ23,
+0.06%
declined by $1.30, or 0.1%, to $1,996.90 per ounce on Comex. -
Silver futures for July delivery
SI00,
+0.10%SIN23,
+0.10%
declined by 3 cents, or 0.1%, to $24.02 per ounce. -
July Platinum
PLN23,
-0.17%
gained $12.30, or 0.9%, to $1,006 per ounce, while palladium futures for September
PAU23,
+1.57%
gained $12.30, or 0.9%, to $1,403 per ounce. -
Copper for July delivery
HGN24,
+0.05%
gained 6 cents, or 1.6%, to $3.77 per pound.
Market drivers
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expect the U.S. created 190,000 new jobs last month. The data will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Last month, job growth beat expectations with 253,000 new jobs created.
Whether or not the jobs report helps to push gold even higher, the yellow metal is still on track to finish the week higher in what would be its first weekly gain after three weeks of losses.
“Gold is proving to be surprisingly buoyant with the price heading back up towards $2,000 an ounce on the expectation that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates where they are when the committee meets later this month,” said Rupert Rowling, market analyst at Kinesis Money, in emailed commentary.
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