Gold was up on Monday morning in Asia, scoring a two-month high. The U.S. dollar on the retreat also provided the yellow metal a boost.
Gold futures bound up 0.18% to $1,820.10 at 11:36 PM ET (3:36 AM GMT). They remained over the $1,800-mark after scoring their highest level after Sep. 7 earlier in the session. The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, crawled down on Monday.
Investors considered Friday’s U.S. job report, which revealed that non-farm payrolls rose by a better-than-expected 531,000. The lay-off rate fell to 4.6% in October.
U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Esther George said on Friday that there is no doubt that the U.S. labor market is tight. George will also be looking thoroughly at how wage pressures and inflation expectations open. She tries to calculate how close the economy is to the Fed’s intention of full employment, she continued.
On the same day, the U.S. Congress established a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to improve the nation’s airports, roads, and bridges.
Chinese trade data published on Sunday revealed that exports increased 27.1% year-on-year in October in the Asia Pacific. Imports expanded 20.6% year on year, and the trade balance attained $84.54 billion.
Meantime, the Bank of Japan sees the demand for ultra-easy monetary policy as inflation is rising only moderately, and wage growth continues feebly.
Physical gold demand in India, one of the biggest consumers, rose throughout the festival season last week.
Silver was higher 0.3% in other precious metals, platinum bound up 0.2%, and palladium increased 0.5%.
Bank of England Puts Rate Hike on Hold
The BoE held rates on hold on Thursday, wrong-footing investors who had been assured that it was about to become the head of the world’s large central banks to increase borrowing costs amid the coronavirus epidemic.
In a note published on Friday, analysts of BofA Securities stated that the Bank of England was more dovish than they and the market had anticipated.
They cope with the new narrative and shuffle their first expected hike to Feb. The overarching message is that the market values too many, notwithstanding when these hikes come.
