Gold closed lower on Friday as investors took solid jobs report data as a sign that the Federal Reserve may well raise interest rates as early as September this year.
The yellow metal ended Friday down 0.75%, or $9.52, with a troy ounce trading at $1258.28. This meant that Gold ended the week down 0.8% and was the first week of declines in a month. The precious metal had previously enjoyed three consecutive weeks of gains following on from a series of weak data releases from the world’s largest economy. The soft data releases asked questions of the Fed regarding when they will be able to raise interest rates this year. The uncertainty over interest rates saw investors move away from the US Dollar, instead moving into the safe haven assets such as Gold.
US Jobs
On Friday, the US Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July. The uptick surpassed market expectations for an increase of 183,000 , whilst the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%.
Rate Hike Imminent?
Markets are now starting to believe that the latest set of figures will enable the Fed to maintain its plans for a third interest rate hike this year. The price of Gold has risen around 9% this year, boosted by expectations that the Fed will enact a steady path towards tightening its monetary policy.
