Gold Heads for Weekly Drop as Jobs Data May Boost Tapering Case

Jalatama news, Gold headed for the first weekly drop in three as investors await U.S. payrolls data amid speculation the Federal Reserve will make further cuts to stimulus. Silver is set for its worst week since November.

Bullion for immediate delivery was at $1,227.92 an ounce at 8:01 a.m. in Singapore from $1,227.95 yesterday. Prices are set to drop 0.7 percent this week, snapping a two-week advance. Gold for February delivery fell 0.2 percent to $1,227 on the Comex.

Minutes of the Fed’s December meeting released this week showed that some officials saw diminishing economic benefits from purchasing debt. The Fed said Dec. 18 that it will reduce its monthly bond purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion, citing improvements in the labor market. The employment report today is projected to show that employers added more jobs in 2013 than at any point in the past eight years.

The Labor Department report may show nonfarm payrolls rose 197,000 last month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. That would bring the total for the year to 2.27 million, the most since 2005. A report from the ADP Research Institute on Jan. 8 showed companies added 238,000 workers in December, the biggest increase since November 2012.

The Fed minutes didn’t describe a detailed schedule for asset-purchase reductions. The central bank will “continue to do, probably at each meeting, a measured reduction” in the pace of purchases, Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last month.

Silver for immediate delivery was little changed at $19.5743 an ounce. Prices are 2.9 percent lower this week, heading for the biggest drop since the period to Nov. 22.

Platinum declined 0.1 percent to $1,417.50 an ounce, heading for a third weekly advance. Palladium was little changed at $736.08 an ounce, also set for a third weekly gain.

(Source: Bloomberg)