Gold price remains down as Philly Fed survey see largest drop in history

New York (Mar 19)  The gold market is off its session lows but is still struggling to find some traction in a volatile marketplace after dismal regional manufacturing data from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve.
Thursday, The Philly Fed said that its manufacturing business outlook fell to a reading of -12.7 in March, down from February’s reading of 36.4. The data significantly beat missed as consensus forecasts were calling for a reading 9.5.

According to reports, this is the biggest one-month decline the survey has ever recorded. It is also the survey's lowest reading since July 2012.

Gold prices were seeing some selling pressure ahead of the data, but have seen a small bounce off the lows in initial reaction. April gold futures last traded at $1,473.90 an ounce, down 0.27% on the day.

"The survey’s current indicators for general activity, new orders, and shipments fell precipitously this month, coinciding with developments related to the coronavirus," the report said.

Looking at the components of the report, new orders dropped to a reading of -15.5, down from February’s reading of 33.6. Meanwhile the shipments index dropped to 0.2, down from the previous level of 25.2.

The region’s manufacturing labor market also lost momentum with the number of employees index dropping to 4.1, down from February’s reading of 9.8.

Negative for the gold market, inflation pressures also dropped sharply to 4.8, down from February’s level of 16.4.

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