Precious metals have had an eventful week so far, but are beginning Friday losing value. This whole week has brought about plenty of information regarding global economies and the monetary policies that govern them, but we are not quite through with this week’s allotment of data. Today, the market will be dealt the latest employment report from the United States and, after last month’s report fell far short of expectations, you can bet that this one will be dealt a lot of scrutiny from investors.
In addition to all the economic reports and activity, investors are continuing to keep a close eye on the price action of crude oil. After recovering a bit to begin the week, oil has since been on the decline and is continuing to hover near multi-year lows. While these low oil prices are great for customers at the pump, they are not so good for raw commodities, including gold and silver. You see, the fact that crude oil has trended downward for the better part of the last month or so has meant that all commodities, especially gold and silver, are being weighed down. With the outlook on oil growing bleaker by the day, it is likely that this asset will continue to pressure metals.
Market Looks Ahead to Employment Data
Apart from this week’s European Central Bank meeting, the next big focal point for the market will be the release of today’s US employment data for November. The monthly jobs data has long been one of the primary ways by which investors gauge the strength of the US economy, and for good reason too. After all, the US economy is largely service-based, which means that the more people we have working, the more highly functional the economy is.
After last month’s October employment report fell short of expectations, some people are expecting this week’s report to do the same. In case you do not remember, last month’s employment report showed that far fewer jobs than expected were added to the US economy during October. Compared to expectations for 230,000 new jobs to have been added to the economy, the actual figures showed only about 208,000 new jobs.
Well, this month the expected tally of job additions has not changed and remains at right around 230,000. If today’s data is far off from what is currently expected, you can bet that it will have a noticeable impact on the marketplace and likely deliver gold and silver a slight boost. For now, however, metals are continuing to lose value ahead of the job report’s release.