Gold price holding near session high as U.S. economy created 428k jobs in April

The gold market is holding near session highs seeing some technical buying momentum even as U.S. economy created more jobs than expected in April.

Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said 428,000 jobs were created in April. The data beat expectations economists were forecasting job gains of around 390,000.

At the same time the unemployment rate slightly missed expectations, as it remained unchanged at 3.6%.

The gold market is not seeing much reaction to the stronger-than-expected employment data; However, the precious metal remains below the critical psychological level at $1,900 an ounce. June gold futures last traded at $1,887.20 an ounce, up 0.63% on the day.

Some commodity analysts also note that gold is also not reacting to weaker than expected wage inflation. The report said that wages in April increased 0.3% to $31.85; consensus forecasts were expecting to see a 0.4% rise.

For the year, the report said that wages are up 5.5%.

Katherine Judge, senior economist at CIBC, said that it is still too early to determine if wages have peaked.

Analysts have noted that gold could be catching a break as the latest employment data has not provided any new bullish momentum for the U.S. dollar. The greenback is seeing some technical selling pressure have rising to a new nearly 20-year high Thursday.

Economists note that although jobs continue to be created, there are still a lot of people who are out of the workforce. The report said that the participation rate dropped to 62.2% in April, down from 62.4% in March. The participation rate prior to the pandemic was 63.4%.