Gold futures were trading lower early Thursday as the number of first-time U.S. jobless claims fell below 1 million last week for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began almost five months ago, a slightly bearish development for haven seekers.
New applications for unemployment benefits, a rough gauge of layoffs, declined to 963,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the second straight large decline and the first below 1 million in more than 20 weeks.
December gold GCZ20, -0.38% GC00, -0.38% declined $3.60, or 0.2%, at $1,945.60 an ounce, after rising 0.1% on Wednesday, when it traded as low as $1,874.20 for the session, the lowest intraday mark for a most-active contract since July 23, according to FactSet data.
Despite the reduction in claims, some experts say that gold has managed to hold its ground relatively because claims still remain elevated from the pre-pandemic levels.
“The reason that we have not seen any substantial selloff in the gold price is because this US initial jobless claims are still very high as compared to normal number,” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade in a daily note.
“The initial jobless claims number was much better than the market anticipation and this has pushed the equity futures higher,” he wrote. “The fact is that the U.S. economy has become more resilient to pandemic and it is trying its best to find its way out,” he said.
September silver SIU20, +2.14%, meanwhile, added 64 cents, or 2.5%, to trade at $26.60 an ounce, after retreating 0.3% a day ago.
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