Gold held ground early Thursday following a two-decline from the highest level in a month, as traders weighed data suggesting the world`s largest economy is adding steam.
A fresh row of upbeat news from the US economy has only helped to boost the dollar, but sentiment in the bullion market is still weighed by speculation that strong US economic recovery is strong enough for the Federal Reserve to continue tapering its monetary stimulus program, the main reason why gold halted its longest bull-run in twelve years and quarter of its value.
Spot gold was down 0.09% at $1,238.72 an ounce as of 30:00 EST, easing from a one-month high at $1,255.21 hit two days ago. The day`s range is between $1,237.49 and $1,244.00.
- Spot Silver -0.07% at $20.07 an ounce
- Spot Platinum +0.09% at 1,426.38 an ounce
- Spot Palladium -0.31% at $740.50 an ounce
Yesterday's economic news was upbeat starting with the Fed's Beige Book signaled the economy is improving moderately and the Empire State gauge pointed out sizable improvement in the New York Manufacturing region.
Looking ahead, markets will be watching a raft of reports; year-on-year rates in today's CPI report which have been far below the Fed`s target for 2.5%, and weekly jobless claims will be closely eyed to for deciding whether the surprisingly weak employment report for December is as bad as it sounds, in addition to data on manufacturing activity in Philadelphia.