Gold hits five week low

Upbeat U.S. economic data and strong dollar remain the bearish factors

Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Thursday, 31 July 2014. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session lower and hit a five-week low. Some upbeat U.S. economic data released Thursday and the recently rallying U.S. dollar index that hit a six-month high this week were bearish weights on the gold and silver markets.

Gold for August delivery fell $13.60, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,281.30 an ounce for a 3.1% monthly drop in July.

September silver shed 19 cents to $20.41 an ounce.

Gold market bulls were disappointed that a big sell off in the U.S. stock market Thursday, amid some ongoing geopolitical worries, did not help gold's cause at all. Instead traders focused on the bearish aspects of some better-than-expected U.S. economic data this week, including a strong GDP report Wednesday and an upbeat weekly jobless claims report on Thursday.

The market place is still monitoring geopolitical issues. The European Union and U.S. this week have slapped new and harsher sanctions on Russia. Meantime, the Israel-Hamas conflict is not de-escalating. These matters will continue to be not far from the front burner of the market place in the near term.

Now, traders and investors await Friday's U.S. Labor Department employment report. The report is forecast to see a rise in non-farm payrolls of 230,000 in July versus up 288,000 in June. In overnight news, the July consumer price index in the European Union rose 0.4%, year-on-year, and is the lowest reading since 2009. The June CPI came in at up 0.5%. These figures are well below the European Central Bank's target of 2.0% annual inflation in the EU.

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