Investing.com - Gold prices rose in the U.S. on Friday as fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran added to geopolitical concerns and a soft U.S. jobs report clouded the outlook for as many as three rate hikes this year forecast by the Fed.
Gold Futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.11% to $1,220.75 a troy ounce. Copper futures slumped 2.55% on the Comex to $2.617 as BHP Billiton (LON:BLT)'s Escondida mine in Chile, the world's biggest copper operation, has resumed work as the company has requested government mediation to avoid a looming strike.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned more than two dozen Iranian, Chinese, and Emirati businesses and persons for supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program and named officers and business executives tied to Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for their suspected role in aiding the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, and Tehran’s defense industries.
U.S. officials said the sanctions, the first issued against Iran in more than a year, didn’t violate the landmark nuclear agreement Tehran reached with the U.S. and other world powers in 2015. President Donald Trump issued a cryptic tweet after the sanctions.
"Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how "kind" President Obama was to them. Not me!"
Friday's report showed that January non-farm payrolls rose by 227,000 jobs, the largest gain in four months. But the unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.8 percent and wages increased modestly, suggesting there was still some slack in the labor market that would keep inflation in check.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve held its fire on interest rates as widely expected on Wednesday, but was optimistic on the outlook for the economy in keeping its benchmark overnight lending rate target at 0.5% to 0.75% following a 25 basis point hike in December.
“Measures of consumer and business sentiment have improved of late,” the committee said in its statement, using new language that jibes with voices on Wall Street following the election of Donald Trump as president.
“Job gains remained solid and the unemployment rate stayed near its recent low,” the statement said, reflecting just a minor tweak from language at the December meeting.