Gold price was barely changed on Friday after losing its intraday gains on the back of a mixed non-farm payrolls report. Data from the US Department of Labor indicates that the public sector (minus agriculture) added only 210K jobs in November, compared with last month’s 546K addition. Average hourly earnings and unemployment rate fell to 0.3% (down from 0.4%) and 4.2% (down from 4.6%).
Labor participation increased to 61.8%, which lent some credence to the validity of the drop in the unemployment rate. However, traders remained undecided as to the impact of the Omicron variant on the outlook for the labor market in December. Data about this variant remain sketchy, even as the first cases of the mutated coronavirus show up in the United States.
Gold prices lost their intraday gains, but the USD strength was not sustained and the downside move on the XAU/USD pair appears limited.
Gold Price Outlook
The daily chart shows an evolving falling wedge pattern. The bulls need to build on Thursday’s bounce to trigger a breakout that has the potential to aim for 1796.83. An extension of this move which uncaps this barrier targets 1811.75, with 1834.45 forming an additional upside target.
On the flip side, a decline below the support at 1760.52 triggers a downside move which targets 1724.85 initially, before 1678.16 becomes an additional target to the south if the downside move is extensive.
Gold (XAU/USD): Daily Chart
