Investing.com - Gold prices edged up on Friday after the release of a slew of U.S. economic data overnight.
Gold futures for June delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, were down 0.2% at $1,281.85 per ounce by 1:16 AM ET (05:16 GMT).
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims rose by 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 230,000 for the week ended April 21, missing economists’ forecast for a rise to 199,000.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday core durable goods orders rose 0.4% last month, beating economists' forecasts for a 0.2% rise.
Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 1.3% last month, well above expectations for a 0.1% increase.
Traders’ focus will be on the first-quarter GDP data due later in the day. They are expected to show that the U.S. economy continues to outperform. A 2.2% annualized gain is expected.
However, some analysts said the data may show the impact from the government shutdown last year.
“We note greater uncertainty in Q1 GDP than usual, thanks largely to the government shutdown over December-January, which led to delayed salary payments for 800,000 federal employees, and disruption to tax refunds and regulatory approvals,” Bill Diviney, senior economist at ABN AMRO (AS:ABNd), said.