December Gold settles 1094.1, down $1.00 for the week ended August 3rd through August 7th.
Gold futures ended the week a smidge lower but finished the week with a modest two session rally as a withdrawal in equities prompted short covering and safe haven buying in gold and treasuries.
In economic news, job growth in the US slowed for the second consecutive month in July, a report from the Labor Department said Friday, with non-farm payroll employment rising by 215,000 jobs in July following an upwardly revised increase of 231,000 jobs in June and a jump of 260,000 jobs in May. Economists expected employment to climb by about 223,000 jobs. However despite the data, the perception that the Fed will raise interest rates soon by a quarter point will likely come in September.
The unemployment report also said the unemployment rate held at 5.3 percent in July, unchanged from the seven-year low set in June. This was is in line with economist estimates. December gold futures hit a session low of 1081.4 immediately after the jobs report but managed to rebound $13.00 into the close as equities grinded lower.
It seems that gold may have put in a near term bottom as it was able to hold the 10.80 level basis December futures. The continued sell-off in global equity markets has helped hold gold from testing and trading through near term lows at 1073.7 made on July 24th basis December. Rallies though have been muted as gold buyers in Asia were in no hurry to come back into the market as they obviously are anticipating the market to weaken further.
Premiums in India and Hong Kong were only up slightly for the week indicating the tepid response to the upside for futures. Having said that we are forming a ledge on the charts at 1080.0. If we can hold this level, we could see short covering and bargain buying that could at least drive the market to 11.12, which was at the start of the year, the first support level for gold and now in my estimation a near term resistance level.
