Monday opened with news that a Swiss watchdog agency would be investigating seven major banks for possible price manipulation of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. The investigation does not currently have a major impact of the price of gold.
Tuesday’s gold price slipped slightly lower due to continued uncertainty about the U.S interest rate hike. Prices fell again on Wednesday after a positive U.S. jobs report, indicating a greater chance that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by the end of the year. Private employers added 200,000 new employees since September—a strong increase.
Platinum also slipped downward on concerns about the future of the automobile market. Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China revealed a 1% increase in national gold reserves since August, twice the average monthly pace of the period from 2009 to 2015.
Gold prices hovered and slipped slightly Thursday through Friday morning ahead of a U.S. jobs report that was scheduled for release later in the day. However, gold prices rose when the report revealed jobs growth was weaker than expected, a signal that could imply a longer wait on raising interest rates.
The Commerce Department revealed an additional 142,000 jobs added in September, far below the anticipated 200,000. The unemployment rate stayed at 5.1%. Gold prices rose 2.1% to settle around $1,136.