Weekly Round-Up: Gold Drops 2 Percent on Strong US Jobs Data

Gold prices were down 0.86 percent for the week after a sharp drop on Friday. As of 1:28 p.m. EST, gold was down 1.81 percent, trading at $1,338 per ounce. 
Strong US employment data bolstered both equities and the US dollar, providing a headwind for the gold price. Nonfarm payroll employment was up  by 255,000 in July, while unemployment rates held steady at 4.9 percent.
Silver prices also had a reaction to the news, dropping 3.28 percent on Friday to $19.74 per ounce as of 1:28 p.m. EST. For the week overall, silver was down 3.52 percent.

On the base metals side of things, copper prices fell for the week, losing 1.54 percent to trade at $2.16 per pound as of 1:26 p.m. EST. According to Reuters, the red metal was under pressure as funds sold ahead of the US jobs report. Copper on the LME was down 0.5 percent on Friday morning, trading at $4,809 per tonne.
“The market is waiting to see what the non-farm payrolls will bring, if it’s not a good number we could potentially be looking at no U.S. interest rate rises this year,” Caroline Bain, senior commodities economist at Capital Economics, told Reuters ahead of Friday’s job’s report. “That would in theory be good for commodities.”
 
Finally, spot oil prices were up 3.42 percent for the week despite a slight dip on Friday. That said, oil saw losses alongside other commodities on Friday in the wake of the US jobs report and a stronger dollar—prices dipped 0.98 percent to $41.48 per barrel as of 1:34 p.m. EST.
The US oil rig count was also up for the week, according to Baker Hughes, putting further pressure on oil.
“The dollar/oil correlation may be back today to pressure crude but the reality is we just have too much oil supply out there to continue supporting prices at these levels,” Phil Davis, trader at PSW Investments told Reuters. “We might hold above $40 next week but I doubt we will be trading at $42 when the new WTI front-month comes into play.”
Brent Crude futures were down 1.1 percent on Friday to $43.81 per barrel, while WTI futures dropped 1.3 percent to $41.38 per barrel, according to the news agency.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time news updates.

Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article. 
Related reading: 
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Prices Still Rising
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Dips on Stronger Dollar
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Price Takes a Dip
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Price Hits 2-Year High
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Boom
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Price Briefly Tops $1,300
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Boom
Weekly Round-Up: Gold Price Leaps on US Jobs Data