📈 Your Daily Gold Update: Afternoon Edition 🌞

I am sorry for the absence of your morning gold update today. Today's insights come with the afternoon sun again. Let's dig right in to ensure you're up to speed with gold news.

🌟 Gold Market

• Current Position: Prices are holding firm above the $1,980 per ounce threshold.
• Supporting Economic Factors: A weaker dollar and dipping Treasury yields are providing a supportive backdrop for gold.
• Interest Rate Outlook: The Federal Reserve's pause on rate hikes may signal a potential shift in monetary policy, which is historically favourable for gold.
• Inflation Outlook: High inflation remains a persistent threat, which could prompt the Fed to adjust rates upward, potentially dampening gold's luster.

🥈 Silver Market

• Current Prices: Silver is performing well, with prices breaching the $23 per ounce mark.
• Investor Reassessment: In the wake of the Federal Reserve's recent stance, there's a growing sense of caution as investors re-evaluate their positions.
• Technical Perspective: The bearish trend observed by analysts suggests silver needs to overcome key resistance levels to pivot to a bullish trajectory.

🔗Here's silver technical analysis.

📊 Equity Markets: S&P 500

• Technical Breakthrough: The S&P 500's breach of resistance levels poses the question: is this a temporary bounce or a true trend reversal?
• Market Speculation: Investors remain divided as they speculate on the future movements of this index.
• Correlated Factors: Stock performance is still closely tied to the fluctuations of the dollar, interest rates, and the credit market.

🔗 Detailed overview of S&P

🌍 Geo-Political Focus: Gaza Update

Middle East Tensions

• Leader od Hezbollah: Hassan Nasrallah affirmed Hamas' decision as "right, wise, and courageous," with perfect timing. Nasrallah emphasized that the October 7 attack, "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," was entirely orchestrated by Hamas, highlighting the success of the operation due to its secrecy. His speech coincided with heightened tensions between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, and the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel.
• Humanitarian Efforts: There's an ongoing push to safely evacuate foreign nationals from conflict zones in Gaza.
• Surveillance Efforts: U.S. drone operations over Gaza underscore the strategic importance and heightened concern for stability in the region.
• Death Toll: Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 have resulted in over 9,227 Palestinian deaths. In Israel, the conflict has claimed the lives of more than 1,400 people.

🔗 Latest news on Gaza

📉 Today's Economic Indicators

U.S. Non Farm Payrolls

• October Job Growth: 150,000 new jobs, less than half of September's revised 297,000.
• Expectations: Fell short of the anticipated 180,000 jobs.
• Labor Market Cooling: The slowdown is partly attributed to strikes, notably from UAW members affecting manufacturing.
• Healthcare Hiring: Added 58,000 jobs, with ambulatory services and hospitals being significant contributors.
• Government Sector: Employment increased by 51,000, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
• Construction: Saw an increase of 23,000 jobs.
• Social Assistance and Hospitality: Both sectors added 19,000 jobs each.
• Professional Services: Professional and business services grew by 15,000.
• Manufacturing Dip: A significant drop of 35,000 jobs, mainly in motor vehicles and parts due to strikes.
• Comparative Analysis: October's payroll was below the 12-month average but still exceeds the monthly minimum needed for working-age population growth.

🔗 Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics

United States Unemployment Rate

• Unemployment Rate Rises: Increased to 3.9% in October 2023 from 3.8% the previous month.
• Exceeds Predictions: Slightly above market expectations.
• Highest Since Early 2022: Marks the highest jobless rate since January 2022.
• Unemployment Figures: The number of unemployed rose by 146,000 to 6.51 million.
• Employment Decline: The number of employed decreased by 348,000 to 161.2 million.
• Employment Rate Drops: Fell to 60.2% from 60.4%.
• Participation Rate Decreases: Slight decrease to 62.7% from 62.8%.
• Long-Term Trends: Unemployment rate and levels have both increased since April, by 0.5 percentage point and 849,000, respectively.

🔗 Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics

United States ISM Services PMI

• ISM Services PMI: Dropped to 53.6 in September 2023 from 54.5.
• Market Expectations: The figure met what market analysts had anticipated.
• Ongoing Expansion: Marks the ninth straight month of growth, showing strong sector resilience.
• Business Activity: Increased by 1.5 points, indicating rapid output growth.
• Order Backlog: Decreased, helping to balance the continued slowdown in new orders.
• New Orders: Slowed for the ninth month, but still in growth territory.
• Prices Steady: Remained high at 58.9, pushed by labor costs and higher energy prices.
• Sector Momentum: Despite Federal Reserve's tight monetary policy, the service sector maintains strong momentum.

🔗 Source: Institute for Supply Management

What does this mean for Gold?

• Job Growth & Unemployment Data: The less-than-expected job growth and rising unemployment rate may lead to concerns about economic growth, which could increase the demand for safe-haven assets like gold.
• Labour Market Cooling: Signs of a cooling labour market might delay further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, which is usually positive for gold as it benefits from a lower interest rate environment.
• Service Sector Resilience: Continued expansion in the service sector could counterbalance some negative sentiments in the market, potentially limiting gold's gains.

That's it. Stay golden and have a great weekend.

DISCLAIMER: Please, note that the information provided in this personal post is a summary of news about gold, aggregated from multiple online sources. It is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Always consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.