(Kitco News) - The gold market is holding on to gains, but $2,400 an ounce remains a solid barrier. The U.S. labor market remains relatively robust, and the number of jobs available remains elevated.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped to 8.18 million as of the last day of June, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday.
Momentum in the labor market continues to slow; however, the pace of the decline is not as sharp as expected. According to consensus estimates, economists were looking for a drop to 8.02 million job openings.
“On the last business day of June, the number of job openings was unchanged at 8.2 million, down by 941,000 over the year. The job openings rate held at 4.9 percent in June,” the report said.
The resilient labor market is taking some momentum away from gold. August gold futures last traded at $2,385.70 an ounce, up 0.33% on the day.
Although the number of jobs available remains elevated, some economists noted that momentum in the labor market is clearly slowing, which will give the Federal Reserve room to ease interest rates.
Markets continue to aggressively price in a rate cut in Septmeber.
