Gold price jumps as U.S. job numbers beat expectations but unemployment rate rises in June - Kitco NEWS

(Kitco News) Gold rose to daily highs after the U.S. added more jobs than expected in June but the unemployment rate ticked up.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 850,000 in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The monthly figure came well above market consensus estimates of 700,000.

However, the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.9%, while markets projected to see a drop to 5.7%. The number of unemployed also remained at 9.5 million.

“These measures are down considerably from their recent highs in April 2020 but remain well above their levels prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (3.5 percent and 5.7 million, respectively, in February 2020),” the report noted.

The most active sectors were leisure and hospitality, public and private education, professional and business services, and retail trade.

The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 61.6% in June. Meanwhile, wages, another key element in the report, edged down, with average private wage growth coming in at 0.3% May’s 0.4% advance.

"The mix of jobs added being tilted towards lower-paying services resulted in average private wage growth decelerating to 0.3%, despite those services seeing notable upward pressure on wages due to the labor shortage," said CIBC Capital Markets economist Katherine Judge.

Gold prices moved higher and neared daily highs after the data were released. August Comex gold futures were last trading at $1,790.90, up 0.79% on the day. 

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Gold price jumps as U.S. job numbers beat expectations but unemployment rate rises in June - Kitco NEWS
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