Gold falls on stronger dollar, jobs data; copper also down Explore related topics US Dollar Index Future - Spot Price SPDR Gold Trust ETF iShares Silver Trust ETF Story Quotes Comments Screener (77) Alert Email Print ShareBy Moming Zhou, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures fell Thursday, ending near $930 an ounce as the U.S. dollar strengthened against most of its rivals after a disappointing U.S. jobs report boosted demand for the dollar, reducing gold's appeal as an investment alternative.
The dollar rose after the Labor Department reported Thursday nonfarm payrolls shrank by 467,000 in June, higher than the 325,000 decline expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. Other metals also moved lower.
August gold ended down $10.30, or 1.1%, at $931 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The loss came on the heels of gold's 1.5% gain Wednesday.
"The U.S. dollar was seen benefiting from" the jobs data, said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc. "Thus, gold unwound the bulk of yesterday's gains."
With Thursday's loss, gold futures ended the week down 1.1%. Trading is closed Friday in observance of the Independence Day holiday.
In currencies trading, the dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i1:dx\y (DXY 80.39, +7.67, +10.55%) climbed above 80. See Currencies. The U.S. currency has been used as a safe-haven currency since the financial and economic crisis, competing at times with gold.
The Labor Department report also showed the unemployment rate ticked higher to 9.5% in June, the highest since August 1983. See Economic Report.
The jobs data weighed on copper prices. September copper futures, the most active contract, fell 2.5 cents, or 1.1%, to $2.3055 a pound. The front-month July contract lost 2.5 cents, or 1.1%, to $2.29. Copper fell 1.6% this week.
In other metals Thursday, September silver lost 35.2 cents, or 2.6%, to $13.408 an ounce, October platinum fell $11.80, or 1%, to $1193.30 an ounce, and September palladium dropped $2.85, or 1.1%, to $252 an ounce.
In exchange-traded funds, holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust /quotes/comstock/13*!gld/quotes/nls/gld (GLD 91.31, +0.06, +0.07%) , the biggest gold ETF, stood at 1,120.55 metric tons Wednesday, unchanged from a day earlier, according to data from the fund.
Holdings in the iShare Silver Trust /quotes/comstock/13*!slv/quotes/nls/slv (SLV 13.20, +0.04, +0.30%) , the largest silver ETF, stood at 8,724.86 metric tons Wednesday, unchanged for the 11th session in a row.
In other economic news, orders for U.S.-made factory goods rose by the biggest amount in close to a year in May, climbing 1.2% on a big jump in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. See Economic Report.
If this is what is normal in today's world, byt the time all these new taxes and fees hit us, the dollar ought to be on par with the pound and gold will be selling for $100 again. That goes with the 22% unemployment rate we'll see.
And that big jump in transportation orders sure wasn't cars and trucks comming off the G.M. assembly lines.
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Posted - 07/02/2009 : 20:56:06 If this is what is normal in today's world, byt the time all these new taxes and fees hit us, the dollar ought to be on par with the pound and gold will be selling for $100 again. That goes with the 22% unemployment rate we'll see.