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Gold prices largely ignore better-than-expected rise in Philly Fed Survey
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(Kitco News) - The gold market is not seeing much reaction to better-than-expected manufacturing data from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve as prices continue to hold solid gains.
Thursday, the regional central bank said its manufacturing business outlook for November was relatively rose to -5.9, compared to October's reading at -9. Although activity is still in contraction territory, sentiment has improved, beating expectations; according to consensus forecasts, economists were looking for a drop to -10.
The gold market is not seeing much reaction to the regional manufacturing data as investors focus more on falling inflation pressures and growing weakness in the U.S. labor market. December gold futures last traded at $1,975 an ounce, up 0.55% on the day.
Although activity has improved, the report noted that many components of the index remain weak. The New Orders Index dropped to 1.3, down from September's reading of 4.4; at the same time, the Shipments Index dropped to -17.9, down from the previous level of 10.8.
The report also noted weakness in the labor market, with the Average Number of Employees Index dropping to 0.8, down from the September reading of 4.0.
However, weaker activity is also cooling inflation pressures. The report said the Prices Paid Index dropped to 14.8, down from September's reading of 23.1.
