Among news, US private sector created 208,000 jobs in November, against market expectations, but remained firmly above the 200,000 threshold for the sixth straight month. Analysts had projected a gain of 221,000 jobs. However, October's private payrolls were revised upwards to show a 233,000 gain from the previously reported 230,000. The ADP data comes ahead of the US Labor Department's non-farm employment change report on Friday, which includes both public and private sector employment and is expected to 231,000 new jobs were added in the labour market, with the unemployment rate remaining at 5.8%. The improvement observed in the US labour market over the past few months are encouraging, as a strengthening labour market increases prospects that the Fed may move to raise interest rates sooner than expected.
A separate report showed that activity in the US services sector rose more than expected in November, though employment component dropped. According to the Institute of Supply Management, services index soared to 59.3 last month, slightly below the post-recession peak of 59.6 reached in August.
Employment data from US and Canada to influence Gold on Friday
It seems that statistics on labor market will have a major impact on yellow metal's price on the last day of the current week. Statistical authorities in US and Canada will release data on unemployment rate and employment change. Besides that, there are British CPI expectations, German factory orders and Australian AIG construction index due to be published on Friday as well, while a considerable change among any of these indicators will be translated to Gold's performance.XAU/USD to decrease trading range by the end of 2014
The long-term outlook for the XAU/USD cross remains bearish, taking into account the recent US dollar's bullish tendency across the market. The Gold entered a descending triangle pattern against the Buck, meaning that trading range o the pair will decrease soon. From above the long-term downtrend line is located around $1,220, while a support in face of 2014 low is placed at $1,131. By the end of the year we would suggest the Gold to hover around $1,150 per ounce, while in January it is likely to depreciate slightly to trade at 2014 low.Daily chart
From the perspective of the hourly chart, the XAU/USD continues trading around the major level of $1,200 for a third day in a row. It is still well-supported by the 55-day SMA and monthly R1. At the same time, in upcoming days we predict this level to be crossed and Gold's price is likely to decline. This scenario is highly expected by the weekly technical indicators at the moment, which are giving no bullish signals at all.
Hourly chart