Gold prices within striking distance of $2,700 as JOLTS shows increase in job openings

NEW YORK (October 1) Gold prices are holding within striking distance of last week’s resistance and all-time highs at $2,700 an ounce, even as the U.S. labor market shows there are still a robust number of jobs available.

August job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose to 8.04 million, according to the Labor Department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report. The number of jobs increased from 7.7 million jobs available in July.

The data also beat expectations as economists were forecasting a slight drop in job opens to 7.64 million.

“The number of job openings was little changed at 8.0 million on the last business day of August but was down by 1.3 million over the year. The job openings rate, at 4.8 percent, changed little over the month,” the report said.

Continued resilience in the U.S. labor market is not having much impact on gold as its two-day correction has attracted some technical buying momentum. December gold futures last traded at $2,688.40 an ounce, up 1% on the day.

An emerging trend in the U.S. labor market is that workers are taking fewer risks as they stay in their current positions. The report said that the number of quits fell to 3.1 million; at the same time, the quits rate was relatively unchanged at 1.9%.

Economists note that the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave their jobs.

KitcoNews