Gold maintained its overnight gains after the government said Thursday that initial weekly U.S. jobless claims rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 239,000 last week.
Consensus expectations compiled by various news organizations called for initial claims to be around 244,000 to 246,000 in the week to Saturday. The government left the prior week’s tally unrevised at 234,000 claims.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average for new claims – often viewed as a more reliable measure of the labor market since it smoothens out week-to-week volatility – was up by 500 claims to 245,250.
Continuing jobless claims, the number of people already receiving benefits and reported with a one-week delay, decreased by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2,076,000 during the week ending Feb. 4, the government said. The four-week moving average rose by 4,250 to 2,080,250.
via Kitco
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