Gold Finishes Choppy Trading Day Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session modestly higher but well off its best levels, the price of gold showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday before closing modestly lower.

Gold for December delivery edged down $2.20 or 0.1 percent to $4,304.50 an ounce after inching up $6.60 or 0.2 percent at $4,306.70 an ounce on Monday.

The choppy trading on the day came following the release of the Labor Department's report on employment in the month of November.

While report showed stronger than expected job growth in November, the increase followed a notable loss of jobs in October.

The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 64,000 jobs in November after tumbling by 105,000 jobs in October. Economists had expected employment to rise by 50,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent in November from 4.4 percent in September. The unemployment rate was expected to tick up to 4.5 percent.

With the bigger than expected increase, the unemployment rate reached its highest level since hitting 4.7 percent in September 2021.

Most economists said the data has increased the likelihood the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the near future, but the report also raised concerns about the strength of the economy.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed retail sales in the U.S. were roughly flat in the month of October.

The Commerce Department said retail sales were virtually unchanged in October after inching up by a downwardly revised 0.1 percent in September.

Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.2 percent, matching the increase originally reported for the previous month.

However, excluding a steep drop in auto sales, retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in October after edging up by 0.1 percent in September. Ex-auto sales were expected to rise by 0.3 percent.