Gold Sheds $2 to $1504 Against Equity Rally on Steady Us Payroll Report - Gold Today October 4, 2019 

Jim Pogoda, Senior Gold Trader, Gold Bullion International

Overnight – gold trades narrowly between $1506 - $1510 ahead of the US Payroll Report

·        Gold edged moderately higher last night, trading in a narrow range of $1506 - $1510 with activity somewhat muted ahead of this morning’s much awaited US Employment Report.

·        It faded some weakness in S&P futures (-14 to 2898) - which reversed a modest gain during early Asian hours. 

·        Gold was also lifted by a slight pullback in the US 10-year bond yield (1.544% - 1.52%) and the US dollar (DX from 98.93 – 98.73). 

·        The dollar was weighed by a firming yen (106.92 – 106.65, risk off) and euro (stronger Germany’s Construction PMI). 

·        News that Carrie Lam invoked emergency powers and announced a face mask ban on Hong Kong protestors ahead of the weekend heightened tensions and was also gold supportive. 

Gold retreats to $1496 on a steady US Payroll Report

·        At 8:30 AM, the US Payroll Report was a mixed bag. 

·        The miss in Nonfarm Payrolls (136k vs. exp. 145k) sent gold spiking up to $1515 from knee jerk algorithmic trading that sent the DX down to 98.67. 

·        However, after a closer look, markets looked favorably - and with some relief after the poor US data released this week – on the large (45k) revisions to the last 2 months reports along with decline in the Unemployment Rate (3.5% vs....