Payrolls Data Smashed

(Reuters) - Gold fell on Wednesday as weak physical demand and losses in equities and other commodities following disappointing U.S. private-sector jobs data extended the precious metal's decline to a second day. The metal, which for most of the year has tracked the performance of riskier assets, came under pressure after the ADP employment report showed U.S. companies hired the fewest people in seven months in April, adding to concerns that the economy has lost some momentum. Market watchers said the ADP data, however, was not enough to alter a view that a strong run of U.S. economic indicators have smashed hopes of further quantitative easing, or government bond purchases, by the Federal Reserve. The gold market is looking to Friday's April nonfarm payrolls data for the latest clue ...

(Reuters) - Gold fell 1 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day loss in over a month, after encouraging U.S. payrolls data smashed hopes of extra stimulus from the Federal Reserve, which had been priced into bullion's recent rally. Wall Street and industrial commodities plus U.S. Treasury yields, an indicator of short-term interest rates, all rose on news the U.S. economy created jobs in January at the fastest pace in nine months. After four consecutive weekly gains, bullion posted a small weekly loss as Friday's sell-off wiped out profits from earlier this week. It is still up 11 percent year to date. Analysts had warned of a pullback after bullion rallied on hopes of immediate Fed actions to boost growth. The Fed said last week it would likely keep rates low until at least late 2014 ...

Forex News and Events: It’s another non-farm payrolls Friday, and in typical fashion the FX markets are subdued with few participants willing to commit to big bets ahead of the risk event. Despite dropping to new 15-month lows in the Asian session, EURUSD has managed to recover its losses early in the European session, and is now loitering around the 1.2800 mark. The December non-farm payrolls are due at 13:30 GMT, and markets are now looking for an increase of 155k compared to 120k seen the month prior. It is possible that expectations for today’s payrolls are even higher than these estimates after yesterday’ ADP employment change smashed expectations at 325k in December (versus 178k expected, 206k prior). Nevertheless, even though the magnitude of that upside surprise is large, we ...

(Reuters) - Oil prices fell from near 2-1/2-year highs on Thursday as traders took profits after Venezuela pitched a plan to resolve the Libyan crisis, even though the market was deeply skeptical about whether it would work. The pull-back follows two days of strong gains that sent a key technical indicator to its most overbought level in more than five years for Brent crude. Few traders expect any quick resolution to the violence that has halved Libyan oil output and sparked concerns over unrest across the Middle East. "I am highly skeptical the market is coming off on assumptions that Chavez will successfully mediate in Libya," said Stephen Schork, editor of The Schork Report in Villanova, Pennsylvania. "I think the market was overbought." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's plan to ...

The Weekly Bottom Line HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK United States * It was another busy week both at home and abroad, with political turmoil in the Middle-East influencing food and energy prices, while a string of mixed data reports showed mixed signals about the U.S. recovery. * On the data front, the two ISM surveys showed a clear acceleration in the pace of U.S. economic growth. However, Friday's much anticipated non-farm payrolls release of 36K was a clear disappointment. * Regardless, stocks seem to have taken the sluggish job numbers in stride, and the S&P500 is well poised to end the week in positive territory. * There was also plenty of action in bond markets this week, as US yields crept up across the curve. Canada * With real GDP advancing by a solid 0.4% M/M ...

(Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.21 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.17 percent and Nasdaq100 futures flat at 0725 GMT (3:25 a.m. ET). The Labor Department is due to release the August employment report at 1230 GMT. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 100,000 jobs were lost in the month compared with 131,000 lost in July. The unemployment rate is seen at 9.6 percent, compared with a 9.5 percent rate in the prior month. The nonfarm payrolls will probably show a hit from a combination of the fading boost from census hiring, a reluctance by firms to add staff and relentless layoffs at cash-strapped state and local governments. Economic indicators on tap for Friday also include the Institute ...

Friday’s US Retail Sales smashed forecasts with an outstanding 1.3% increase in November (against consensus forecast of 0.6%); ensuring that for the second week in a row, FX markets were left running for the exit of short USD bets. The dramatic slump in EURUSD from 1.4776 down to 1.4586 stood in stark contrast to the higher close for equity markets, and really underlines the divergence between the two asset classes on improving US data. It has been widely accepted that the major theme of 2009 has hinged on the inverse correlation between risk appetite and the USD; with good US data being a catalyst for USD selling – however the reaction to Non Farm Payrolls and Retail Sales has been completely the opposite. It is still too early to ascertain whether the behaviour of FX markets on these two ...