By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Gold’s safe-haven edge reemerged on Thursday after weekly U.S. jobless claims remained near the 2 million mark, showing that economic fallout from Covid-19 wouldn’t fade away easily.
U.S. gold for August delivery settled down $22.60, or 1.3%, at $1,724.40 per ounce on New York’s Comex after the Labor Department reported that an additional 1.9 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment claims last week, bringing to nearly 43 million the number rendered jobless since the pandemic hit home in March. Also, continuing claims rose unexpectedly.
Spot gold, which tracks real-time trades in bullion, rose by $16.74, or 1%, to $1,715.80 by 4:00 PM ET (20:00 GMT).
“Hopes were high … that the U.S. economy was bouncing back strongly, but this weekly jobs reading derailed that theory,” said Ed Moya, analyst at New York’s OANDA.
“Tomorrow's nonfarm payrolls will provide greater clarity as to how much damage occurred in the labor market last month,” Moya added. “The labor market recovery will not be quick, but it will help somewhat if the baseline unemployment rate is not well above the 20% level.”