Investing.com – Gold futures padded gains in U.S. trade Friday, as investors fled riskier equities markets in favor of safe-havens following the release of discouraging U.S. labor numbers and a sharp drop on Wall Street.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery traded at USD1,873.65 a troy ounce during mid-day U.S. trade, up USD49.10 or 2.7%.
The U.S. Labor Department reported earlier Friday that non-farm payrolls remained flat in August, after a revised 85,000 gain in July.
Market expectations were for non-farm payrolls to increase by 74,000 in August.
Unemployment held steady at 9.1% in August, mirroring the July figure and in line with economist’s forecasts, according to the Labor Department report.
“The number of unemployed persons, at 14 million, was essentially unchanged in August...Employment in most major industries changed little over the month,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its report.
Gold rallied by 12% during the month of August as unresolved debt issues in the euro zone coupled with a downgrade of the U.S. top-notch credit rating triggered extreme volatility in global stock markets.
Speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be prepared to take further quantitative easing measures to prop up the economy surfaced in minutes from last week’s Fed meeting in Wyoming.
At the Federal Reserve’s August policy meeting, some members favored the introduction of further action to boost the economy, including the purchasing of additional government debt, according to a central bank release earlier this week.
Wall Street shares bounced from Friday session lows following the labor report but remained in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 1.71% to 11,296.42, the Nasdaq Composite Index dropping 2.08% to 2,493.12, and the S&P 500 retreating 2.03%. to 1,180.21.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery jumped 3.41% to trade at USD43.02 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery slipped 0.39% to trade at USD4.124 a pound.