Gold holds steady; key US jobs data in focus

(Reuters) – Gold prices were steady on Tuesday as investors took a cautious stance ahead of the upcoming U.S. economic data that could provide insights into the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path.

Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $2,638.73 per ounce, as of 0501 GMT, after falling as much as 1% on Monday. U.S. gold futures was 0.1% up at $2,661.10.

Key U.S. data this week includes the job openings due later in the day, the ADP employment report on Wednesday and the payrolls report on Friday.

“The next big thing is going to be the payrolls on Friday night because it’ll tell us whether the Fed is essentially going to green-light the interest rate cut in a couple of weeks,” said Kyle Rodda, financial market analyst at Capital.com.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller on Monday said with inflation still forecast to fall to 2%, he is inclined “at present” to support another rate cut later this month.

The comments boosted expectations of a rate cut at the Fed’s Dec. 17-18 meeting to nearly 75%.

“I expect it will be appropriate to continue to move to a more neutral policy setting over time,” Fed Bank of New York President John Williams said.

“It seems we’re just oscillating in one place until a new trigger emerges,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.

“Another 25-basis-points cut this month seems likely and appears mostly priced in. The big question concerns the scope for further easing in 2025.”

Gold tends to thrive in a low-interest-rate environment and during periods of geopolitical turmoil.

On the geopolitical front, the Israeli military targeted dozens of Hezbollah positions across Lebanon on Monday.

Elsewhere, spot silver added 0.2% to $30.55 per ounce, platinum dropped 0.4% to $942.80 and palladium shed 0.6% to $975.74.

(Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Eileen Soreng and Sumana Nandy)

By Rahul Paswan