Gold steadied on Friday as worries over an economic slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic countered pressure from a jump in U.S. Treasury yields on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s offer for more inflation tolerance.
Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,929.94 U.S. per ounce early Friday morning after falling more than 1.2% on Thursday. Gold has fallen more than 0.5% so far this week.
The Fed’s new monetary policy strategy pledges to address "shortfalls" from the "broad-based and inclusive goal" of full employment and also promises to aim for 2% inflation on average.
Meantime, more than 24.33 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 826,948 have died.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits hovered around one million last week, suggesting the labour market recovery was stalling as the COVID-19 pandemic drags.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after talks with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Thursday that Democrats and Republicans remained far apart over how much to spend on the next coronavirus relief legislation.
Among other precious metals, silver eased 0.1% to $27.01 U.S. per ounce, platinum fell 0.7% to $922.07 U.S., while palladium gained 0.8% to $2,178.48 U.S.
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