MW: Gold back above $1,300/oz, oil drops post-jobs
By Barbara Kollmeyer
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Jobs data that came in weaker than most economists had forecast on Friday provided some support for gold prices, but acted as a weight on oil prices. Gold for December delivery GCQ3 +0.46% went from a pre-data loss off $25 to a gain of just over one dollar, bringing it back above the key $1,300 an ounce level at $1,312.40. Silver prices SIQ3 -0.04% turned around a loss, with a gain of 37 cents to $19.97 an ounce. Oil for September delivery CLU3 -0.53% fell 54 cents, or 0.5%, to $107.35 a barrel, after settling just shy of $108 a barrel in the prior session. Oil was off 23 cents ahead of the data. The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in July, but economists had been expecting an increase of 180,000, with some even higher after a week of upbeat data.