Gold prices hit with new selling pressure as JOLTS job openings rise to 8.14 million

NEW YORK (July 2) The gold market is seeing some renewed selling pressure Tuesday morning as the U.S. labor market remains fairly healthy due to an increasing number of jobs available.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped to 8.14 million as of the last day of May, up from April’s downwardly revised figure of 7.092 million the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report.
 

“Over the month, both the number of hires and total separations were little changed at 5.8 million and 5.4 million, respectively,” the report said.

The latest labor market data fell was better than expected as economists were expecting to see 7.96 million job openings.

The healthy employment data is weighing on gold as it remains a key factor in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision. The U.S. central bank has said that it wouldn’t be ready to cut interest rates until it sees some slack in the U.S. labor market.

August gold futures last traded at $2,334.50 an ounce, down 0.18% on the day. 

KitcoNews