Gold was given a lift in trading yesterday (Thursday) on the back of the latest round of unemployment data – with figures showing a somewhat disappointing picture. Economists had expected that there would be 260,000 new jobless claims reported – a number which would have represented a decline of 9,000 on the previous week. However, the actual numbers released by the US Labor Department were a way above that number with 268,000 new claims made in the previous seven days. An additional 2.8 million people are recorded as already being in receipt of unemployment benefits.
Although the number of new people registered as unemployed is now lower than at any point in the pandemic, the higher than expected number of claims gave gold a lift in the day’s trading, suggesting that markets are still jumpy when it comes to the topic of economic recovery and the strength of the rebound. The yellow metal was bumped up to £1,390 ($1,867).