Gold slipped in a volatile Tuesday session, amid a weaker dollar and muted oil prices, while market participants watched the U.S. midterm elections. Spot gold settled at $3,930.21/oz.
Spot gold dropped 0.4% to settle at $3,930.21/oz, and gold futures fell 0.7% to settle at $3,940.15/oz. Market participants also watched the outcome of the high-stakes U.S. midterm elections.
According to Trade Nation analyst David Morrison, gold continues to hover around $3,900 after retesting support around lows last seen in October last year. Gold has been under pressure in recent sessions as a slide in the artificial intelligence trade on Wall Street led investors to pull money out of stocks, the greenback and bullion, and into safe-haven assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and the Japanese yen.
Strong U.S. data lands before Friday's payrolls
The latest JOLTS report showed September job openings at 7.523 million, the highest since May. The reading suggested labor strength ahead of the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
Separately, the U.S. Census Bureau said new orders for manufactured goods in September increased 1.8% to $677.2 billion. Consensus estimates had called for a rise of 1.2%.
Midterms put Congress in focus
All 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats were up for contention. Nonpartisan forecasts and prediction markets continue to favor Democrats to regain control of the House, while the Senate race remains tightly contested.
A Democratic sweep or divided government would introduce legislative gridlock and dampen expectations for further fiscal stimulus, according to Investing.com. An unexpected Republican hold across Congress would instead preserve the path for aggressive trade tariff implementation.
Oil stays muted on Iran talks
Oil also stayed quiet. Brent crude futures dipped 0.4% to settle at $104.38 a barrel, as hopes for diplomatic progress between the U.S. and Iran remained high despite some setbacks.
Energy markets took heart from Iranian state media reporting that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had granted "certain authorities" to pursue dialogue with the U.S.
Source: Investing.com
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