(Kitco News) - The gold market is trying to attract new buying momentum, but support at $4,000 an ounce remains at risk as the U.S. labor market shows persistent resilience, with the number of jobs available holding relatively steady last month.
May job openings—a measure of labor demand—were unchanged at 7.59 million, as April’s numbers were revised down, according to the Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The latest labor market data came in better than expected, as economists were forecasting openings to fall to 7.29 million.
The gold market is not seeing a major reaction to healthy employment data. Spot gold last traded at $4,039.50 an ounce, up 0.60% on the day.
Analysts note that the latest JOLTS data is negative for gold as a relatively healthy labor market allows the Federal Reserve to focus on battling growing inflation pressures. Because of rising consumer prices, the central bank has now adopted a tightening bias and has signaled support for a potential rate hike by the end of the year.
Rising interest rates will increase the opportunity cost of holding gold, a non-yield-bearing asset.
Looking at the components of the report, the number of hires was relatively unchanged at 5.2 million, with the hiring rate falling to 3.3%, relatively unchanged from March.
Within separations, quits came in at 3.1 million, while layoffs and discharges totaled 1.7 million, both unchanged from the previous month.
