Gold Prices Balk at $1,300 Ahead of Trump Budget Proposal, Retail Sales

Investing.com – Gold prices drifted lower on Monday, pulling away from the $1,300 handle reached on the back of a weak jobs report, while investors looked ahead to retail sales data and U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget proposal.

At 7:49 AM ET (11:49 GMT), for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $4.55, or 0.35%, to $1,294.75 a troy ounce.

Gold briefly breached the psychological level of $1,300 on Friday after the U.S. Labor Department reported a last month, far fewer than the consensus forecast of 180,000. However, it was unable to hold above that level for the close and marked an intraday high Monday of $1,299.15.

Markets will turn their attention Monday to the latest reading on U.S. , which are expected to hold steady in January after an unexpected drop at the end of 2018. The data will be released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).

Also scheduled for release at 11:30 AM ET (15:30 GMT), Trump is expected to present his . According to reports, Trump will seek a 5% cut in non-defense spending as well as request an additional $8.6 billion in funds to help pay for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Inflation figures will also be closely watched this week after the Federal Reserve vowed to be “patient” and await incoming data before raising interest rates again. Data on U.S. and are set to be released on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said on Sunday that the central bank is as it keeps watch over the global economy.

In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, Powell said that current levels are “appropriate” and “roughly neutral”.

“I would say there’s no reason why this economy cannot continue to expand,” he added.

Other key economic reports in focus this week include U.S. and .

In other metals trading, dropped 0.30% at $15.303 a troy ounce by 7:51 AM ET (11:51 GMT).

traded up 0.97% to $1,473.10 an ounce, while sister metal lost 0.29% at $815.20.

In base metals, advanced 0.19% to $2.899 a pound.

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