(Kitco News) – Surging COVID-19 cases through the summer continues to take its toll on the U.S. labor market as 1.3 million Americans filed for first-time jobless claims in the week to Saturday, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The report said that jobless claims dropped by 10,000 from the previous weeks revised level of 1.31 million. However, the data was weaker than expected as consensus estimates of economists called for initial jobless claims to be around 1.25 million.
The weaker-than-expected labor-market data is not having much impact on gold prices. Spot gold remains under modest selling pressure as it hold critical support above $1,800 an ounce. Spot gold on Kitco.com last traded at $1,806.20 an ounce, down 0.24% on the day.
Traders have been closely monitoring jobless claims as a key gauge of the weakness in the economy as the country combats the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the growing pandemic some states are restate some lockdown measures.
The four-week moving average for new claims – normally viewed as a more reliable measure of the labor market since it smooths out week-to-week volatility – fell by 60,000 to 1.375 million.
Continuing jobless claims, which counts the number of people already receiving benefits and reported with a one-week delay, decreased by 422,000 to a seasonally adjusted 17.338 million during the week ending July, the government said.
The weaker-than-expected labor-market data is not having much impact on gold prices. Spot gold remains under modest selling pressure as it hold critical support above $1,800 an ounce. Spot gold on Kitco.com last traded at $1,806.10 an ounce, down 0.24% on the day.
