04-Nov (USAGOLD) — Gold remains well bid heading into the last weekend before the U.S. election. There was brief flurry of volatility off of the October jobs report, but the yellow metal settled back in just above $1300.
October nonfarm payrolls came in at +161k. While that was below expectations, the positive back-month revisions along with the continued rise in hourly earnings made the report neutral to positive. With the November FOMC meeting behind us as well, all attention is squarely on Tuesday’s election.
Uncertainty surrounding whom will end up being President-elect next week has reportedly been driving safe-haven demand this week. That may be true to a degree, but the underlying fundamentals that have driven gold higher throughout the year remain very much in place.
However the elections shake out, and whether the Fed hikes or not this year, there is nothing to suggest this trend is about to reverse anytime soon. James Steele of HSBC sees at least an 8% appreciation in the price of gold, no matter who wins next week. That would take gold to new highs for the year, and then some. At that point, we can start seriously thinking about at all-time high from from 2011 at $1920.
