(Kitco News) - The gold market continues to trade around record highs as the U.S. manufacturing sector continues to show a muddled picture of the economy.
Monday the Commerce Department said that U.S. durable goods orders increased 9.9% last month, following June’s revised drop of 6.9%. The data significantly beat expectations as economists were looking for a 4.0% increase.
However, looking beyond the volatile headline number, core durable goods, which strips out the volatile transportation fell 0.2% in July, compared to June’s downwardly revised increase of 0.1%. The data was weaker than expected as consensus estimates looked an unchanged reading.
At the same time, nondefense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, dropped 0.1%. The data was slightly weaker than expected as economists were expecting to see an unchanged reading.
The gold market is not paying much attention to the latest economic data as bullish momentum continues to drive the price action. December gold futures last traded at $2,559.10 an ounce, up 0.50% on the day.
According to some market analysts, gold is now mostly focused on impending rate cuts next month following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
