“Un” Garde! North Korea Situation Demands Attention…while Jobs Report Could Demand Rate Increase?
First…the Jobs Report
The monthly employment update from the U.S. Labor Department landed this morning with a bit of a boom. After a seeing a very volatile Thursday, Gold has actually not reacted as much as you might expect, this morning. After a short UP tick, the yellow metal has moved down to around $1,216 as we go to press. So it appears the Gold market had already factored in a tighter monetary policy from the Fed. And the positive Job Report will certainly strengthen that Fed trend.
U.S. employers added 222,000 jobs in June. Those numbers are well above estimates. Possibly even more significant, wages inched up, too. It’s likely this strong jobs number will also buoy the case for another interest rate increase this year from the Federal Reserve.
Silver also making news, taking a dramatic overnight drop to a 15-month low of $15.54. So far, no news or development has been tied to this “flash crash,” but it’s thought a large sell order hit the futures market sparked the action.
Onto the World Stage
North Korea’s saber-rattling has returned to the world stage front and center, with a successful ICBM test indicating that their (now) advanced weaponry could indeed threaten U.S. interests in the region—and possibly the shores of Alaska. If this situation intensifies, safe haven demand for the yellow metal should continue to go up, as one might imagine. President Trump is talking tougher than ever and has indicated that something will be enacted as an official U.S. response. But what, exactly? Cooler heads can hope that sanctions or bi-lateral pressure from China might take the sting out of the situation, but both militaries are on extremely high alert. Trump is also slated to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin today in a closed door meeting. Without a doubt, this subject will be on the discussion list.
Have a wonderful weekend…
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