Gold News & Info

Source: Marketwatch

New York— Gold futures tumbled 4% Friday, sustaining their first major loss in a run that began early in November, as the U.S. dollar rose sharply after an upbeat U.S. jobs report. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery fell $48.60 to end at $1,168.80 an ounce. Friday's losses erased gold's weekly gain. The benchmark contract ended the week down 0.5%, falling for the first week in the past five.

The dollar advanced after the Labor Department reported the U.S. labor market improved markedly in November, with the unemployment rate falling back to 10%. Gold has tended to fall when the dollar rises, as the greenback's weakness gives investors more reason to buy hard assets as an currency alternative that will hold value when paper currencies depreciate. "The pullback is related to the dollar reaction to the jobs data," said James Steel, gold analyst at HSBC in New York. See full story.