(Kitco News) - The gold market is holding support above $3,900 an ounce but is seeing renewed selling pressure as the U.S. labor market continues to demonstrate resilience, with the number of available jobs ticking higher.
September job openings—a measure of labor demand—rose to 7.52 million, up sharply from August’s upwardly revised figure of 7.19 million, according to the Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The figure was stronger than expected, as economists had forecast job openings to decline to 7.15 million.
Analysts note that the latest employment data could create new headwinds for gold, as it gives the Federal Reserve room to raise interest rates to cool persistent inflation. Spot gold last traded at $3,938.10 an ounce, down 0.20% on the day.
The Federal Reserve has said that inflation remains a bigger concern than the labor market.
Looking at the components of the report, the number of hires increased slightly to 5.4 million, up from 5.3 million in August. The hiring rate rose to 3.4%, up from 3.3% in the previous month.
Within separations, quits totaled 3.4 million, up from 3.1 million reported in August and layoffs and discharges came in at 1.6 million, both were relatively little changed from the previous month.
