Gold ticks up on this morning’s weak U.S. jobs report, after rebounding early Friday from its weekly declines triggered by a strong dollar. The yellow metal continues getting support from investors turning to risk-off assets because of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war.
February’s job numbers came in much worse than expected. The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs last month per the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, missing the estimated drop of 50,000 while January’s job gains were downwardly revised to 126,000. February is the third month in five with declining payrolls, following December’s sharp revision showing a drop of 17,000 jobs.
The Federal Reserve is set to meet on monetary policy late this month and policymakers will be looking at inflation and the labor market for cues. This week’s stronger dollar has made gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.
April gold futures dropped 1.1% Thursday to settle at $5,078.70 an ounce on Comex and are down 3.2% so far this week. Bullion surged 11% in February after climbing 9.3% in January and rising 2% in December. It rallied 64% last year. The April contract is currently up $26.00 (+0.51%) an ounce to $5104.50 and the DG spot price is $5104.60.
Initially, the conflict added to a historic rally in gold, which rallied for a seventh consecutive month in February, the longest rising streak since 1973, but traditional haven assets like gold and Treasuries haven’t offered investors protection this week, though the dollar has. The yellow metal has come under pressure from both the strong dollar and expectations that the Fed won’t cut interest rates until the second half of the year. Higher interest rates are typically bearish for gold, making it a less attractive alternate investment.
More than 95% of the investors tracked by the CME FedWatch Tool are betting that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged again this month, with the rest anticipating a 25 basis point cut. The Fed reduced interest rates for a third consecutive time in December to 3.50% to 3.75%. The central bank began raising interest rates in March 2022 to fight inflation, ultimately imposing increases of by 5.25 percentage points before beginning rate cuts in 2024.
The central bank kept interest rates unchanged in January after three previous rate cuts.
In addition to headlines from the Middle East, investors are continuing to monitor tariff uncertainty, concerns about the Fed’s independence and next moves on monetary policy. In economic news, the private payrolls report from ADP on Wednesday showed that companies added 63,000 workers last month, beating both the consensus estimate and the downwardly revised January figure.
Front-month silver futures slid 1.2% Thursday to settle at $82.18 an ounce on Comex, and the May contract tumbled 12% in the first four days of the week. It touched a record above $115 in January. Silver gained 19% last month after advancing 11% in January and climbing 24% in December. It rose 141% last year. The May contract is currently up $0.689 (+0.84%) an ounce to $82.870 and the DG spot price is $82.98.
Spot palladium decreased 1.9% Thursday to $1,647.00 an ounce and has dropped 8.5% so far this week. Palladium gained 8.8% in February after advancing 2.4% in January and increasing 11% in December. Palladium gained 74% last year. The DG spot price is currently down $8.00 an ounce to $1642.00.
Spot platinum declined 0.8% Thursday to $2,139.30 an ounce and is down 9.6% this week. It advanced 15% last month after gaining 1.4% in January and surging 22% in December. Platinum increased 122% in 2025. The current DG spot price is down $16.60 an ounce to $2121.70.
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