NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Gold prices were slightly higher Wednesday but without great enthusiasm toward the upside as investors looked to the first U.S. presidential debate of the election season.
Gold for December delivery was rising $3.50 to $1,779.10 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price traded as high as $1,784 and as low as $1,773 an ounce, while the spot price was rising $2.80, according to Kitco's gold index.
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"I think here in the U.S. we're definitely focusing on the first presidential debate," said Tim Harvey, senior vice president at ETF Securities U.S. "If Obama wins, then I think most people think we're looking at ... not necessarily more quantitative easing, but more of the same."
If he wins the 2012 election, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has said that he would unseat Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. President Barack Obama has not expressed the same opinion, and Bernanke's term runs through Jan. 31, 2014.
An average of major national polls shows the president with a lead over his GOP opponent, while Obama also holds advantages in most of the battleground states.
Investors have kept an eye on American campaigning to try and gauge who may win in November, so as to better position themselves for the policies that may emerge from the victor.
Silver prices for December delivery were effectively flat at $34.68 an ounce, while the U.S. dollar index was gaining 0.28% to $79.97.
The ADP monthly employment report that estimates private payrolls said Wednesday employers added 162,000 jobs in September, which beat a consensus by analysts who expected 140,000, according to Econoday.
Investors look to the ADP report to try and predict the government's monthly unemployment report, which will be released on Friday, but the two often don't correlate.
Gold had typically been affected by the monthly jobs reports up until the September number, as the Fed had said for much of 2012 that it would determine the need for fresh quantitative easing on the health of the labor market.
With the Fed's implementation to purchase $40 billion of open-ended, mortgage-backed securities each month, the labor number may have less of an influence on the yellow metal.
