Gold futures logged an 11th day of gains on Friday—the longest stretch of consecutive session gains on record.
The precious metal started the day on shaky ground with some caution emerging among investors after the metal hit 10-straight sessions of gains on Thursday, which was its longest run in more than six years. The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, was initially higher, was pushed lower by the employment report, then bounced back.
The jobs report Friday revealed that the U.S. added 148,000 workers in December, the slowest pace in three months, and it included a tepid wage-growth reading, which could gold some gold investors interpreted as possibly slowing interest-rate increases for the Federal Reserve in 2018. The unemployed rate, however, held at 4.1%.
Separate data Friday showed the Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index sank 1.5 points to 55.9% in December. A reading of 50 or better indicates improving activity.
February gold GCG8, -0.10% rose 70 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,322.30 an ounce. Futures prices again logged their highest settlement since Sept. 15.
Prices have now climbed for 11 sessions in a row. That’s the longest such streak for a most-active futures contract based on data from FactSet going back to late 1984.
For the week, gold rose roughly 1% climb after three weeks of gains.
The exchange-traded SPDR Gold Trust GLD, -0.10% was down 0.2%, but looking at a weekly rise of 1.3%, while the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF GDX, -0.21% was off 0.5%, still up 1.6% on the week.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.16% edged up 0.1%, though poised for a weekly decline of roughly 0.2% after losing 9.9% in 2017.
Expectations of higher U.S. interest rates later this year, plus the passage of the Republican tax bill have failed to give the dollar a lift, helping gold. A weaker dollar tends to provide a boost to dollar-pegged commodities, including gold, making them more attractive to users of weaker monetary units.
“Spot gold prices in U.S. dollars are being influenced by overall weakness in the U.S. dollar across the currency spectrum: in other fiat currencies, gold and cryptocurrencies,” said Anthem Blanchard, chief executive officer of Anthem Gold.
He expects gold prices to maintain their “momentum through the end of January as investors ignore Fed talk about the potential of inflation concerns leading to material Fed interest-rate increases in 2018.”
On Friday, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said he thinks the central bank will only raise interest rates twice this year, one fewer than the central bank’s median forecast of three moves. Following his comments, gold prices pared some of its declines.
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Meanwhile, gold on Friday saw some pressure as U.S. stocks were poised for another record-setting session.
Among other metals, palladium pulled back after hitting record levels Thursday. March palladium PAH8, -0.67% eased $12.55, or 1.2%, to $1,082.20 an ounce, with prices scoring a 2% weekly rise. They settled a day earlier at $1,094.75—the highest for a most-active futures contract on records dating back to 1984, according to FactSet data.
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March copper HGH8, -0.97% fell 1% to $3.23 a pound, ending down 2.2% for the week, March silver SIH8, -0.05% rose 0.1% to $17.285 an ounce, up about 0.8% from a week ago, and April platinum PLJ8, +0.48% rose 0.5% to $975.20 an ounce—for a weekly climb of about 4%.