WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices shot higher on Friday as demand for the safe-haven metal increased, while stock markets felt the heat of the new tariff regime kickstarted by the US President, who added new levies on nearly 70 countries.
Front Month Comex Gold for August delivery surged $54.50 (or 1.65%) to $3347.70 per troy ounce today. Gold gained $12.10 (or 0.36%) this week.
Front Month Comex Silver for August delivery rose by 23.50 cents (or 0.64%) to $36.787 per troy ounce today. Silver lost $1.4030 (or 3.67%) this week.
Today, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order and thereby swiftly hit around 69 trading partners of the US with new tariffs, with the imposition set to go into effect in a week's time.
The delay is to give US Customs and Border Protection officials enough time to prepare themselves for collecting the tariffs in the coming days.
The new tariffs range anywhere from 10% to 41% as dictated by the negotiations that the countries had with the US.
Frameworks for deals with 11 of thee top 15 major trading partners of the US have been already been rolled out.
So far, no agreement has been reached with Canada, Brazil, India, Switzerland, or Taiwan.
On the economic data front, data released by the US Labor Department today was not cheerful for the markets.
US nonfarm payrolls rose by 73,000 in July; well below expectations of 110,000. This monthly data sent out every first Friday of the month heavily affects the US dollar, the bond market, and the stock market.
The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.2% in July from 4.1% in June.
The labor force participation rate in the US eased to 62.2% in July.
The ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 48 in July from 49 in June, while construction spending in the US fell by 0.4% in June.
Earlier this week, the Fed had left the borrowing rates unchanged at 4.25% to 4.50%. The Fed Chair too, in his speech, did not give any signals of a rate cut in September.
However, currently, the market is betting that the Fed may finally have to act to cut interest rates in order to support a weak jobs market.
The disappointing job numbers and the underperformance of the stock markets today helped gold prices rise impressively today amid safe-haven demand.
Analysts believe that Trump is a dealmaker who will keep the doors open for further talks and countries will find ways to secure a fair deal with the US through 'give and take' in the coming weeks.
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