After the release of the U.S. December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data, both the dollar and U.S. treasury yields saw a significant decline, driving up gold prices. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of job openings in December fell to 7.6 million, marking a three-month low and a sharp decrease from the revised 8.15 million job openings in November. This data fell well below market expectations, indicating that the U.S. economy might be slowing down, further heightening concerns about the country's economic outlook.
With U.S. treasury yields decreasing, gold prices found support, especially as the U.S. real yields, which have a negative correlation with gold's trajectory, plunged nearly 6 basis points, decreasing from 2.13% to 2.072%. Meanwhile, the U.S. 10-year treasury yield also fell by 4 basis points, reaching 4.51%.
The weak economic data not only hit the dollar but also made gold cheaper for holders of other currencies. The dollar index closed down 0.42% on Tuesday, at 107.99.
Additionally, U.S. factory orders in December fell by 0.9%, which was also below the market expectation of a 0.7% contraction, further intensifying concerns over economic slowdown.
The market's focus is now on the ADP employment report due on Wednesday, the non-farm payroll report on Friday, and several speeches by Federal Reserve officials to further gauge the direction of future monetary policy from the Fed.
