Gold and silver dipped in early trading Tuesday on the heels of a report showing the number of U.S. job openings sunk to a three-year low last month, revealing continued fragility in the labor market a week before federal monetary policy officials meet in Washington to assess the economic headwinds.
Gold was down $22.48 at $2,328 per ounce and silver was down $1.13 at $29.60 an ounce after data released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 8.1 million job openings on the last business day of April – down from 8.4 million openings in March.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data fell short of expectations by economists, who estimated openings would remain relatively unchanged at around 8.4 million openings.
The report also showed job openings declined for a second consecutive month and by 1.8 million openings for the year. Openings hit their lowest level since February 2021, when the nation was in the middle of the COVID pandemic.
“Over the month, both the number of hires and total separations were little changed at 5.6 million and 5.4 million, respectively,” the report stated. “Within separations, quits (3.5 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.5 million) changed little.”
April’s report underscores the cooling labor market and raises the stakes for federal monetary policymakers ahead of their meeting next week in Washington.
Key economic reports detailing ADP employment, initial jobless claims and the unemployment rate, among others, are expected later this week.
Additionally, the U.S. Census Bureau released data Tuesday showing new orders for manufactured goods increased $4.3 billion to $588.2 billion in April. The 0.7% increase over March was in line with Wall Street forecasts.
