Gold spikes and retreats post-NFP, vulnerable below $1930 level
- Gold faded the post-NFP uptick to $1946-47 region and dropped to session lows.
- Softer NFP print was offset by a larger-than-expected fall in the unemployment rate.
- Surging US bond yields, positive US equity futures added to the intraday selling bias.
Gold quickly reversed an early North American session uptick to the $1946-47 region and dropped back closer to the lower end of its daily trading range post-US jobs data.
The latest NFP report showed that the US economy added 1.371 million jobs in August as compared to 1.4 million expected. Moreover, July's reading was also revised lower to 1.734 million from 1.763 million. The US dollar weakened a bit in reaction to softer headline reading and provided a modest lift to the dollar-denominated commodity.
The negative reading, to a larger extent, was negated by a larger-than-expected fall in the unemployment rate, coming in at 8.4%. This was well below consensus estimates pointing to a modest downtick to as compared to 9.8% from 10.2%, which, in turn, capped the commodity, rather prompted some selling at higher levels.
Apart from this, a strong rally in the US Treasury bond yields further collaborated towards driving flows away from the non-yielding yellow metal. This coupled with indications of a strong opening in the US equity markets might have already set the stage for further intraday weakness.
Even from a technical perspective, the commodity has moved on the verge of breaking through a three-month-old ascending trend-line. The mentioned support is pegged near the $1928-27 region, which coincides with weekly lows and should act as a key pivotal point for short-term traders.
Technical levels to watch