(Kitco News) - Gold continues to experience solid profit-taking, trading near session lows. The U.S. labor market appears to be stabilizing, with the number of job openings remaining near pre-pandemic levels.
April's job openings—a measure of labor demand—increased slightly to 7.39 million, compared to March’s reading of 7.20 million, according to the Labor Department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The report exceeded expectations, as economists had forecast a decline to 7.11 million.
The gold market is showing little reaction to the latest employment data, as price action is currently driven by momentum flows. Gold is undergoing expected profit-taking after rallying nearly 3% on Monday. Spot gold was last trading at $3,337 an ounce, down 1.29% on the day.
The report noted that in April, both hires and total separations held relatively steady at 5.6 million and 5.3 million, respectively. Within separations, quits totaled 3.2 million, while layoffs and discharges were 1.8 million—both unchanged.
According to some analysts, gold could continue to face headwinds, as the latest employment data suggests a fairly resilient labor market. The Federal Reserve has reiterated that it is in no hurry to cut interest rates, given that inflation pressures remain elevated and the labor market remains relatively healthy.
Although gold continues to attract significant safe-haven investment demand, some analysts have said the precious metal needs the Federal Reserve to shift away from its neutral stance before it can reach new record high.
Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial, said in a note Tuesday, expects the Federal Reserve to maintain its neutral stance following the data.
“The labor market is returning to more normal levels despite the uncertainty within the macro outlook. Underlying patterns in hirings and firings suggest the labor market is holding steady,” he said. “Although the soft data indicate more weakness than the hard data, workers have the means to keep spending as we’ve heard from some large retailers."
