World gold price developments last week
Gold prices surged to a record high last week amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. The market calmed down on Friday afternoon as it faced a wave of selling after a stronger US jobs report was released.
Spot gold started the trading week at $2,661.81 an ounce. It fell slightly on Monday, to $2,626.89 an ounce. Many speculators lost their cool at this point. However, this was the lowest level of the week, as spot gold prices began to rise later.
Reports that Iran was preparing an attack on Israel on Tuesday morning added fuel to the gold rally. Spot gold prices jumped sharply, hitting a weekly high of $2,671 an ounce.
From there, spot gold began to trade sideways between $2,641 and $2,660 an ounce, lasting until Thursday evening, when the precious metal once again rose to $2,670 an ounce. However, spot gold prices slid back to $2,660 an ounce as traders focused all their attention on the U.S. non-farm payrolls report for September.
The final report was a banger, with U.S. job growth beating expectations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 254,000 last month. That monthly figure beat the consensus estimate of 147,000. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, down from 4.2% in August. Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged.
This completely erased 30% expectations of a 50 basis point cut at the next meeting of the US Federal Reserve (FED) and also helped push gold prices from $2,657/ounce to $2,632.01/ounce.
However, the recovery of this precious metal is even more impressive when it skyrocketed strongly after a short period of decline. At the time of writing (3:00 p.m. on October 5, 2024, the world gold price listed on Kitco) was at 2,653.8 USD/ounce.
Expert predicts surprise
The latest Kitco News weekly gold survey shows that industry experts are increasingly cautious about gold’s near-term prospects, while investors remain bullish, albeit at a slightly lower level than last week.
This week, 16 analysts participated in the Kitco News gold survey. Only a handful of experts see gold prices rising in the near future. Seven experts see gold prices rising next week. Three experts predict the precious metal will fall. The remaining six analysts believe that gold will trade sideways next week.
Meanwhile, 176 votes were cast in Kitco’s online poll. The majority of investors still expect gold to rise. 104 traders expect gold prices to rise next week, while 36 predict the precious metal will trade lower. Only 38 believe gold prices will remain stable next week.
Economic data impact gold prices next week
The economic calendar is not particularly busy next week, but investors will still pay attention to the US consumer price index for September, due for release on Thursday morning. Market participants will be looking at whether inflationary pressures continue to ease, which would support the Fed's easing cycle.
Other notable economic data that could impact gold prices next week include the minutes of the Fed’s most recent monetary policy meeting due Wednesday afternoon; the weekly jobless claims report on Thursday and the University of Michigan’s preliminary U.S. producer price index and consumer sentiment on Friday morning.
