By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Thursday morning in Asia as investors await the U.S. non-farm payroll data due Friday. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield edged higher as trading started in Asia, also giving the yellow metal a boost.
Gold futures were up 0.27% to $1,789.15 by 13:09 AM ET (5:09 AM GMT). The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, inched up on Thursday.
The U.S. ADP Nonfarm Employment Change climbed to 742,000 in April. Although lower than expected, the growth was the biggest in seven months as firms boosted their production in response to increasing demand. The economy recovered further from COVID-19 due to the government’s stimulus measures and accelerating COVID-19 vaccination rates.
Investors now await April’s U.S. monthly jobs report, including the non-farm payrolls, due on Friday. Initial jobless claims data for the past week is also due later in the day.
U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said on Wednesday that the country’s economy could be recording faster-than-expected growth and unemployment is falling faster than predicted.
However, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans remained concerned that the economy might not reach the Fed’s 2% inflation goal and expected the Fed to maintain its dovish monetary policy for a while.
Across the Atlantic in the U.K., the Bank of England will hand down its policy decision later in the day.
The central bank could announce a slowdown in its COVID-19 emergency support due to a stronger recovery in 2021 than predicted.
In other precious metals, palladium inched down 0.1%, silver slid 0.5%, and platinum dipped 0.4%.