Gold rises sharply to six-week high on dismal US labor market data

• Gold price leaped over 1% to $2,385, spurred by mixed US NFP data and heightened Fed rate cut speculation.
• June NFP surpasses forecasts, yet revisions for April and May indicate an accelerating labor market cooldown.
• US Dollar Index (DXY) declines 0.16% to 104.95; 10-year Treasury yield drops more than six basis points to 4.284%.

The Gold price rallied during the mid-North American session following the release of June’s US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report, which exceeded forecasts, but two previous months’ downward revisions hinted that the labor market is cooling faster than the figures show. Therefore, traders bet that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will cut rates in September, increasing a headwind for the Greenback and a tailwind for the yellow metal.

The XAU/USD trades at $2,391 and registers gains of over 1.40% in the day and more than 2.70% in the week after bouncing off daily lows of $2,349, sponsored in part by a weaker US Dollar, which remains undermined by lower US Treasury bond yields.