AGE Daily Gold Update

AGE Daily Gold Update presents a recap on today's action in the precious metals markets. View archives.

3/8/2024: Gold scores best week since December

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — Gold jumped 0.9% to close at $2,185.50, another record high, after a deceptively weak jobs report raised rate-cut expectations, pressuring yields and the dollar while lifting alternative assets. The metal posted a weekly rise of 4.3%, the biggest in five months.

The government’s nonfarm payrolls report showed 275,000 new jobs were added in February. But beneath that unexpectedly solid headline number, the details were much weaker.

Job gains for December and January were revised lower by 167,000, while the annual unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 3.9%, the highest in two years. Furthermore, wages increased by a scant 0.1%, suggesting that momentum in the labor market is dissipating.

Former St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the rise in unemployment should be seen as “increasing the probability that the Fed acts a little bit sooner than previously anticipated.”

Following the jobs report, the odds of a May rate cut rose to 30%, according to Fed fund futures trading. But June remains the most likely start at 73%.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields dropped under 4.1% on the rate view, lifting gold by decreasing the opportunity cost for holding it instead of bonds as a safe-haven asset.

Tracking lower with yields, the dollar fell 0.1% against major rivals on its way to a weekly loss of 1.2%, its biggest since mid-December. A weaker buck supports gold and other commodities by making them cheaper in other currencies.

The other precious metals were lower for the day but sharply higher for the week. Silver dipped 0.1% but still surged 5.1% this week. Platinum slid 0.9% for a weekly rise of 3%. Palladium shed 1.6% today but jumped 7.6% this week.

At the New York spot close: gold gained $20.30 to $2,185.50; silver dipped 3 cents to $23.34; platinum slipped $8.60 to $914.80; and palladium lost $17.10 to $1,025.30 an ounce.