Gold price holding firm following 291K growth in private sector employment

New York (Feb 5)  Gold prices are holding firm around critical initial support as private sector jobs creation significantly beat expectations in January, according to private payrolls processor ADP.

Wednesday, ADP said that 291,000 jobs were created this past month, significantly higher than consensus forecasts; economists were calling for job growth of around 157,000.

The gold market was trading in positive territory ahead of the data and has seen little movement in initial reaction to the latest employment data. February gold futures last traded at $1,552.60 an ounce, up 0.30% on the day.

Although the latest employment data provide some upside risk to Friday’s official numbers, economists warn that ADP has not been a consistent predictor nonfarm payrolls.

“On average over the last year, 72K different from private payrolls on first release in absolute value terms, suggesting that it isn't a reliable indicator of the payrolls data,” said CIBC economist Katherine Judge.

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