Gold Prices Slip After 1% Gain on Friday Amid Weak U.S. Employment Report

Investing.com – Gold prices slipped on Monday in Asia after gaining almost 1% in the last session as a weak U.S. employment report sent the greenback lower and clouded the outlook for the global economy.

The Labor Department reported a 20,000-job increase in nonfarm payrolls last month, far fewer than the consensus forecast of 180,000.

The U.S. dollar dipped on Friday following the report, while the safe-haven gold rose.

for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange last traded at $1,297.45 a troy ounce by  12:55 AM ET (4:55 GMT), down 0.1%.

The that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies recovered slightly on Monday and gained 0.1% to 97.4.

“The fall this morning is a temporary occurrence due to some early morning profit taking after Friday’s move up. The U.S. dollar is mostly stronger and that is adding some downward pressure on gold,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a Reuters report.

“Structurally gold is well positioned to move higher overthe coming months. As the world economy continues to slow anduncertainty increases, it is going to be supportive for gold,”he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments received some attention as he said the central bank is not in a rush to change interest rates levels again, and that current rates are at an appropriate level.

“The financial crisis did a great deal of damage to many people’s lives. And, of course, not all of them will be made whole,” Powell said. But “our system is vastly more resilient and strong than it was before the financial crisis.”

Looking ahead, markets will get the latest reading on U.S. retail sales later in the day, which are expected to show another decline in January after an unexpected drop at the end of 2018.

Data on U.S. consumer and producer prices are set to be released on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Other key economic reports in focus this week include U.S. inflation figure, new home sales and durable goods.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.