By Claudia Assis and William L. Watts, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)—Gold futures added to losses Friday after the U.S. jobs data showed a surprise drop for the unemployment rate in September.
Gold remained on track to post a gain around 0.6% for the week.
Gold for December delivery GCZ2 -0.62% lost $12.40, or 0.7%, to $1,784 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The metal has thrived on the recently announced monetary easing, stimulus measures in the U.S. and elsewhere. The positive jobs report weakened the case of those pressing for yet more steps.
The U.S. Labor Department said the jobless rate fell below 8% for the first time since President Barack Obama took office. The economy created 114,000 jobs in September, and employment figures for August and July were revised up. See: Jobless rate falls to 7.8%, lowest since 2009.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had predicted the creation of 110,000 jobs in last month, while the unemployment rate was forecast to tick up to 8.2% from 8.1%.
Most metals tracked gold lower, with December silver SIZ2 -0.67% down 21 cents, or 0.6%, to $34.89 an ounce. On the week, however, silver is gaining 0.9%.
Gold’s trend up for most of the week was helped in part by comments from central bankers in the U.S. and Europe. Read more ECB’s president Draghi’s comments supporting gold on Thursday.
Late Thursday the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s September meeting showed policy makers decided to launch a third round of quantitative easing due to persistent sluggishness in the labor market and worries about Europe’s debt troubles, among other factors.
Strategists at Deutsche Bank expect “fears toward the fiscal outlook will intensify in the fourth quarter, along with the possibility of a U.S. credit downgrade event.”
“This will prove to be most beneficial to the precious metals complex and specifically gold,” the strategists wrote in a research report.
“Seasonal factors may also come into play and encourage exchange traded fund flows into gold at the end of the year since there has been a tendency of the U.S. dollar to display weakness during December,” they added.
Gold tends to benefit amid concerns of inflation or currency debasement, as the metal is viewed as a safe store of value.
Meanwhile, December copper HGZ2 +0.34% bucked the trend and turned higher. It gained 1 cent, or 0.4%, to $3.80 a pound.
Palladium for the same month’s delivery PAZ2 -1.42% fell $6.55, or 1%, to $668.20 an ounce. January platinum PLF3 -0.44% declined $4.80, or 0.3%, to $1,721.10 an ounce.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
William L. Watts is MarketWatch's European bureau chief, based in Frankfurt. Virginia Harrison in Sydney contributed to this report.
