The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week, official figures revealed on Thursday. The Labor Department reported initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 246,000 in the week ending January 28 from the preceding week's upwardly revised 260,000, while analysts anticipated a slighter decline to 251,000. The result marked 100 weeks below the 300,000 level, the longest streak since 1973. At the Federal Reserve's last meeting, policymakers kept its benchmark overnight rate unchanged in a range of 0.50% to 0.75%. Thursday's data also showed that the four-moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends, advanced 2,250 to 248,000 last week. Furthermore, continuing claims declined 39,000 to 2.06 million during the week ended January 21, while their four-week moving average fell 13,000 to 2.08 million.
Last week's claims report has no impact on the NFP data for January, set for release on Friday. Economists expect nonfarm payrolls to show a gain of 170,000 jobs, following a sluggish December, when private companies created just 156,000 new jobs, missing the 175,000 gain forecast. Moreover, the unemployment rate is excepted to remain unchanged at 4.7% in January. Wage growth is likely to boost consumer spending and support economic growth in the Q1 of 2017.
Upcoming events: Minor US data
Two medium ranked data releases are set to be released during today's trading session. At 13:30 GMT US Trade Balance will be released and covered by the Dukascopy research team. In addition, at 15:00 GMT JOLTS Job Openings will be published.
Gold consolidates on Tuesday
Daily chart: On Tuesday morning the yellow metal's price declined, and the decline in the price can be explained by using not only technical but also fundamental analysis. From a fundamental perspective, profit taking occurred due to large jump, which occurred on Monday. Meanwhile, from a technical perspective it can be seen that the bullion's price jumped out of the borders set by the Bollinger bands and encountered the weekly R1. Due to that reason the commodity price is declining, and it is most likely to retreat to the 1,220 levels, where the next notable support cluster is located at.Markets remain bullish
Spreads (avg,pip) / Trading volume / Volatility
Market participants foresee the price of Gold being around 1,250 in May
Traders who were asked regarding their longer-term views on gold between January 7 and February 7 expect, on average, to see the metal near 1,250 in early April. Generally, 49% of participants believe the price will be above 1,250 in ninety days. Alongside, 36% of those surveyed reckon the currencies will trade in the range between 1,000 and 1,200 over the next three months.