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Gold hits new daily lows as Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index declines but sees improvement from April

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(Kitco News) The gold market fell to fresh daily lows after the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said its manufacturing business outlook survey declined for the ninth month in May but saw an improvement from April's three-year lows.

The regional central bank said manufacturing activity continued to decline, with the May reading coming in at -10.4. This is after the diffusion index hit a new three-year low of -31.3 in April.

Market consensus calls were expecting to see a lower reading of -19.8 in May.

"The survey's indicators for general activity, new orders, and shipments rose from last month but remained negative. On balance, the firms also reported a decline in employment. The price indexes remained below long-run averages, with the prices received index declining further," the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said.

The new orders index rose to -8.9 from -22.7, and the current shipments index increased 3 points to -4.7.

The labor market in the region's manufacturing sector declined to -8.6 in May from April's -0.2. At the same time, the average workweek index was little changed at 7.7.

And on the inflation front, the index for prices paid rose to 10.90 from 8.20.

Gold tumbled to new daily lows after the data release, with June Comex gold futures last trading at $1,970.70, down 0.71% on the day.

Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]

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