The gold market was somewhat lower overnight, but it didn't give up much of Friday's gains and held pretty much in the upper end of Friday's range. This follows what some have called a "disastrous" jobs report on Friday that sparked strong rallies in gold and silver.
The US economy added 20,000 jobs in the month of February versus expectations for a gain of 180,000. Other parts of the report were strong; unemployment came in at the low end of expectations and wage-gains were the best in years, but the poor jobs number seemed to command the metals' attention.
The market had also received some sluggish Chinese trade balance figures earlier in the day that contributed to safe-haven flows to gold and silver. With the Brexit situation up in the air, little progress being reported in the US/China trade talks, reports that North Korea has restarted its missile program, and new Boeing troubles with a second crash of a new 737-Max overnight, there seems to be plenty of news to spark some interest in the metals this week.
Demand was said to be slow in India last week, but the rupee gained against the dollar, which should support purchasing power there.
Friday's Commitments of Traders report showed that managed money traders were net sellers of 56,358 contracts of gold for the week ending March 5th, reducing their a net long to 47,872. Non-commercial & non-reportable traders sold 61,710, lowering their net long to 124,549.
In silver, managed money traders were net sellers of 30,172 contracts, reducing their net long to 18,141. Non-commercial & non-reportable traders were net sellers of 26,047 contracts, reducing their net long to 52,200.
Last week, ETFs reduced their gold holdings by 528,154 troy ounces and their silver holdings by 2.62 million troy ounces. They have reduced their gold holdings for seven straight days.
The US retail sales figure for January this morning could grab the market's focus after the dismal reading last month. Another poor number could signal another leg up in gold and silver.
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