Spot Gold held in proximity to an all-time high of $3,578.50/oz. and was on course for its best weekly performance in three months, underpinned by rising expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this month.
Markets are now pricing in about a 99% chance of a 25 basis point Fed rate cut in September.
Lower interest rates tend to reduce the opportunity cost of holding Gold, which pays no interest.
Today’s US Non-Farm Payrolls report could provide more clues on the size of the expected rate cut by the Fed.
Employers in all sectors of the US economy, excluding farming, probably added 78,000 job positions in August, according to market consensus, following a job growth of 73,000 in July.
The number of Americans who filed for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, providing further evidence of a cooling labor market.
And, the latest ADP data showed US private payrolls had risen at a lesser pace than expected in August.
Those data prints followed an earlier report by the US Labor Department showing job openings dropped more than expected to 7.181 million in July.
Spot Gold was last up 0.09% on the day to trade at $3,549.21 per troy ounce.
The precious metal has risen 2.96% so far this week.
Strong central bank buying, US tariff policies, potential rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and geopolitical uncertainty have fueled Gold’s rally to a series of record highs this year. Year-to-date, the yellow metal has surged 35.25%.
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