Gold struggled to recover on Thursday (February 5th), despite signs of weakness emerging from US jobs data. The primary reason: the US dollar continued to strengthen (or at least held strong), thus unabated pressure on the precious metal. The initial trigger came from the sharp decline in JOLTS Job Openings data. The December 2025 release showed job openings at 6.542 million, well below the estimated 7.200 million. Normally, such a weak figure provides room for gold to strengthen as the market begins to anticipate lower interest rates. However, this time the effect was restrained because...
Oil prices moved slightly higher in a volatile session on Friday, as investors assessed the direction of nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran. Price movements appeared sensitive to every headline, reflecting a market that remains "vulnerable to change direction" amid geopolitical tensions. In New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded above $63 per barrel. The market briefly rallied after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the negotiations a "good start." However, the euphoria was short-lived, as a Wall Street Journal report indicated that Tehran still...
Gold prices are still struggling to turn an intraday rebound into a sustained rally. After briefly falling to $4,654 (a four day low) and rebounding, prices were again rejected near $4,900. In the European session on Friday (February 6), spot gold was trading around $4,859 per ounce. Today's gold rally came from a shift in global risk sentiment. As stock markets moved erratically and investors tended to be defensive, capital flows to safe-haven assets returned and gold was the beneficiary. At the same time, signs of weakness in the US labor market maintained market expectations that the Fed...