By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Monday morning in Asia, following a slump of more than 4% during the previous session, over a strengthening dollar and U.S. Treasury yields that continue to remain elevated.
Gold futures were down 0.26% at $1,830.60 by 11:49 PM ET (4:49 AM GMT), tumbling below the $1,900 mark. The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, was up on Monday.
Treasury yields remained firm, after data released on Thursday showed that the number of initial jobless claims fell to 787,000 during the previous week, down from the 790,000 claims from the week before. This boosted expectations of more federal spending to aid the COVID-19-battered economy and, in turn, the greenback.
Further U.S. employment data released on Friday showed that December’s non-farm payrolls shrank by 140,000, against the 71,000 increase in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the 336,000-increase seen in November. The unemployment rate also remained steady at 6.7% as the U.S. continues to see a surge of COVID-19 cases.
President-elect Joe Biden said Friday’s data showed that Americans need more immediate relief now and that acting now will help the economy even with deficit financing. He has pledged to lay out proposals for trillions of dollars in fiscal support in the coming week to fight COVID-19's economic toll.
in Washington D.C., House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading calls for Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to remove incumbent President Donald Trump from office before moving to impeachment. Calls for Trump’s impeachment are growing after he incited his supporters’ riots on Capitol Hill during the previous week.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will speak s at an online conference on Wednesday and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will take part in a webinar on Thursday.