According to the US Department of Labor's monthly Employment and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report, the number of jobs in August - a measure of labor demand - increased to 8.04 million.
According to Kitco, this number of jobs is much higher than the 7.7 million jobs available in July. The data also exceeded expectations when economists forecast the number of jobs would decrease slightly to 7.64 million.
With the continuous recovery of the US labor market, the world gold price has continuously increased. The price of gold futures for December was last traded at 2,688.40 USD/ounce, up 1% on the day. Meanwhile, the spot gold price, recorded at 0:07 on October 2 (Vietnam time) listed on Kitco at 2,667.4 USD/ounce.
An emerging trend in the U.S. labor market is that workers are taking less risk when they stay in their current positions. The report said the number of people quitting their jobs fell to 3.1 million; at the same time, the turnover rate remained relatively unchanged at 1.9%.
Economists note that the turnover rate can be used to measure workers' willingness or ability to leave their jobs.
Notably, escalating geopolitical tensions are driving safe-haven demand for gold. According to Kitco, the market is closely watching developments in the Middle East. In addition to the latest news of an imminent Iranian missile attack on Israel, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has seen Israel send troops into Lebanon.
Iran has so far avoided direct conflict with Israel. Markets are concerned that the Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale war between Iran and Israel that could engulf other major military powers.
Many experts say gold prices are likely to hit new record highs if Iran attacks Israel. Not only gold, silver prices are also likely to hit new highs if this actually happens.
In other news, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made some market-sensitive comments in an interview Monday afternoon, hinting that the Fed could make two 0.25% rate cuts this year, which disappointed some who had hoped for larger rate cuts.
In the coming time, gold prices will still be affected by the Fed's interest rate management. Lower Interest Rate will reduce the opportunity cost of holding gold, an asset considered a safe haven in times of economic and political instability.
Commenting on the future of precious metals, Jerry Prior - COO and senior portfolio manager at Mount Lucas Management believes that gold prices will stabilize in the range of $2,600 to $2,700 in October. He affirmed, "we see no reason to sell gold here", and pointed to the Fed's supportive interest rate path as the main reason.
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered analyst Suki Cooper predicts that gold prices will consolidate in the coming period. According to him, at this stage, the main catalyst in the market seems to revolve around macro dynamics and monetary policy. Therefore, surprises related to the level of interest rate cuts will be the main factor to trigger the recovery of gold.
