Gold has posted considerable gains in the Monday session. In North American trade, the spot price for an ounce of gold is $1282.27, up 1.05% on the day. On the release front, there are no major events on the schedule. William Dudley, President of the New York Federal Reserve, announced his retirement. On Tuesday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak at an event in Washington.
US numbers ended the week on a disappointing note, as payrolls and wage growth missed their forecasts. After a decline in September, a result of the hurricanes which battered the US, nonfarm payrolls rebounded sharply with a reading of 261 thousand. This was a respectable number, but still fell short of the forecast of 312 thousand. Wage growth also disappointed, slowing to 0.0%, short of the estimate of 0.2%. This marked the first time in 2017 that wage growth did not increase, underlining persistent weak inflation. Although Fed Chair Yellen and other Fed policymakers have expressed confidence that inflation levels will rise, this is still yet to occur, despite strong growth and a labor market at capacity.
The Federal Reserve remains in the news, after FOMC member William Dudley announced that he will retire in mid-2018. This move could have implications for monetary policy, depending on who will replace Dudley. A possible candidate is Kevin Warsh, who made the short list for the successor to Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Warsh is in favor of higher rates and favors less regulation of the banking sector, and if he would certainly support a more hawkish stance on monetary policy.
