Friday's close will be paramount for gold.
Gold traded to a high of $1,423.30 on Thursday, after coiling into a tight range early in the session. Early price action from $1,408.50 to $1,410 ran stops, and allowed traders to ride a wave of fresh buying to press this market to new swing highs. With a lower high overnight at $1,417.70, gold consolidated lower ahead of the nonfarm payrolls, and back toward support at $1,408.50.
This payrolls report was the most anticipated data release of the year thus far, as traders were hoping it would give them to get a further indication as to the state of the economy, and consequently the Federal Reserve's monetary policy going forward. However, 175,000 jobs were added, and this is basically in line with the 170,000 predicted. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate suffered a uptick to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent. With a slight downward revision of the previous month's data, this report gives no significant indication that a change in policy will be coming.
(Read More: No Swoon: Job Creation Continues, Rate Up to 7.6%)
