WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices traded higher on Friday as new data pointed to a disinflationary trend in the world's largest economy and concerns mounted about EU's political landscape.
Spot gold jumped 0.8 percent to $2,323.19 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were up 0.9 percent at $2,338.80.
On Thursday, data showed the annual rate of U.S. producer price growth slowed to 2.2 percent in May from an upwardly revised 2.3 percent in April.
Separate data revealed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased to a 10-month high last week.
After the jobless claims and PPI data, markets are now pricing in 68 percent odds of a rate cut by the Sept. 18 Fed meeting, up from around 62 percent earlier.
Meanwhile, risk aversion picked up in financial markets due to ongoing political uncertainty in Europe as well as an intensifying trade dispute over an increase in tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
The risk premium on French bonds hit a four-year high on concerns about the political situation in the country.
France's finance minister has warned that the country could plunge into a debt crisis similar to one sparked in the U.K. two years ago if far-right leader Marine Le Pen were to win legislative elections slated for the end of the month.
Ratings agency S&P Global, which recently downgraded the country, said policies advocated by the party could have implications for the credit rating.
Elsewhere, Nigel Farage's Reform UK has surpassed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives in a YouGov poll.
The poll for the Times newspaper puts Reform UK at 19 percent, up from 17 percent previously, and the Conservative Party unchanged at 18 percent in voting intention.
Earlier today, the Bank of Japan flagged a cut in debt purchases without laying out any figures or timeline.
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