It’s too early to say that the bear market for gold is in the rear-view mirror, but a week of solid gains that pushed (and kept) gold above the $1,200 figure indicates that it’s a better time for the metal than it has been the past few months. The week of the 30th to the 3rd saw the price of gold peak at $1,210 per ounce with only a few dips.
Monday saw gold open on a drop compared to the closing cost of the previous week’s worth of trading. The drop in value came at the hands of a stronger dollar index, in addition to the continued drop of crude oil prices. The April COMEX gold price dipped to nearly sixteen dollars, while the COMEX silver price dropped nearly forty cents.
The following day passed without much fanfare. Gold dropped by a tiny amount, opening at $1,184 and closing at $1,183, with the only major news coming in the form of a Bloomberg report that estimated gold will begin to trade above $1,300 per ounce by the 4th quarter of this year, with Stanchart noting that foreign investments, particularly in India, would drive the bulk of demand.
Wednesday would be the money day of the week for gold investors as the metal surged up by $25 per ounce in the course of only a single day. This 1.5% rise was brought about chiefly thanks to a sell-off on stocks due to poor market performance, a rise that was mimicked by a strong growth in bonds.
Gold cooled off on Thursday, following up the red-hot performance by dipping down to $1,200 without ever dropping below the threshold, the largest fall in the entire week, with a net growth of negative eight dollars per ounce. A strong interest rate for equities kept gold from climbing, although the continued decline of the dollar could have provided the framework for a continuing upward trajectory.
Friday saw gold gain big with the release of the much anticipated weekly U.S. jobs report from the Department of Labor. Gold gained nearly seventeen dollars per ounce on the back of the jobs report that stated the hiring slowdown meant the economy was not quite as strong as first anticipated. With just 126,000 jobs added in March, gold climbed on the news to close out the week at $1,217, its highest point since mid-February.