Investors await US employment data, and gold fell, nearing a two-month low. Investing.com

Gina Lee

Investing.com-Gold fell in Asia in early trading on Wednesday and moved towards its worst monthly decline since November 2016. Investors are now waiting for US employment data to get further clues about the advancement of the Fed’s monetary policy.

After dropping 0.26% to $1,758.95 at 12:53 am Eastern Time (4:53 am GMT), it fell to its lowest level since April 15 on Tuesday.

Gold fell 7.5% in June, still affected by the Fed’s surprisingly hawkish policies earlier this month. However, it grew by 3.3% in the second quarter of 2021.

“Since the Fed’s monetary policy strategy changed, gold has consolidated near lows and is now waiting for US economic data to seek further guidance,” DailyFX foreign exchange strategist Ilya Spivak told Reuters.

“These data will be the main driving force of the market in the near term. If it shows higher wage inflation and strong employment growth, we will see the next level of gold,” Spivak added when referring to the US employment report. The Friday due in June.

At the same time, investors also digested the remarks made by Fed Governor Christopher Waller on Tuesday. Waller was “very optimistic” about the US economy and predicted that the Fed might start raising interest rates in 2022.

ANZ Bank analysts said in a report that from a technical perspective, the failure of gold to break through the 100-day moving average is a bearish signal that may prompt investors in exchange-traded funds who have been patient so far to join the sell-off.

Among other precious metals, platinum rose 0.3%, but set the largest monthly and quarterly decline since March 2020. Silver rose 0.3%, palladium rose 0.5, and is expected to rise for the fourth consecutive quarter.