Gold prices were trading in positive territory on Friday after mixed US data weighed on the dollar.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $5.10 or 0.5 percent to $1,093.50 per ounce. The yellow-metal finished higher three out of five sessions this week.
Prices fluctuated heavily throughout the week as a combination of a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and US GDP figures drew investors from the sidelines.
“Although the 2.3 percent number missed the 2.5 percent estimate slightly, it still kept expectations of a Fed hike for September on track,” Edward Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone, said.
Despite settlement on pace to close higher in a majority of the sessions this week, gold remains in a bearish state with the precious metal heading for the biggest monthly decline in two years.
Additionally, outflows of gold from ETFs are capping any real recovery in the metal’s price. Holdings in funds tracked by FastMarkets have decreased for 14 consecutive sessions and are now at their lowest since February 2009 at 1,537 tonnes.
In a recent theme of mixed US today, Chicago PMI in July was 54.7, exceeding the forecast of 50.7 and the first expansion reading since April of this year.
However, revised University of Michigan consumer sentiment in July was 93.1, below predictions of 94.2. Though, UoM inflation expectations for the same month were 2.8 percent, above the previous reading of 2.7 percent.
Employment Cost Index released this morning showed a 0.2 percent increase, below the 0.6 forecast and yet another example of persistently low wages. Despite weekly unemployment hovering at multi-decade lows, wage growth is nowhere to be found.
In eurozone data today, German retail sales fell short at -2.3 percent as did French consumer spending at 0.4 percent and the Italian unemployment rate at 12.7 percent. Eurozone core consumer inflation however at one percent was better than the forecasted 0.8 percent while the flash estimate at 0.2 percent was as expected.
Turning to US equities, the Dow Jones industrial average was last down 0.1 percent, while the S&P was unchanged. The dollar was 0.7 percent softer at 1.1010 against the euro.
As for other precious metals, Comex silver for September delivery rose 5.4 cents to 14.750 per ounce. Trade has ranged $14.510 to $14.970.
Platinum for October settlement fell $4.0 to 985.90 per ounce, while the most actively traded palladium contract was at $611.90 per ounce, down $8.65.
(Editing by Tom Jennemann)
The post Gold on pace to finish week higher, dollar struggles appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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