Gold holds at $1,828 - US Employment Declines Sharply with Delta Variant, Taper Delayed

Introduction

Welcome to our Gold news series, where we bring you short and sweet news updates on the global economy and gold market. Today's news discusses the market sentiment on the US economy.

Employment & Tapering

US Employment data has shown a sharp decline in performance, deterring the possibility of the Tapering announcement to occur in September. A significant contributor to the weakened performance and delay is the Delta Covid 19 variant that has made the future outlook unpredictable.
Employment data for June and July was robust and in good shape; thus, the Federal Reserve had intended to reduce its asset purchasing program worth $120 billion. The Fed implemented the program until they could make significant headway on employment and inflation (average of 2%).
The current inflation figures during the year had seen it rise at the highest pace in the last 13 years. Immediate adjustments in the Fed's decision making on Tapering is needed to prevent inflation from spiring out of control.
August employment data saw as many as 235,000 jobs created was a rapid decline compared to its previous month that had posted 1.1 million jobs. The weakened figures saw the Fed taking a more cautious approach in its retreat from the financial markets. The data were despite a decline in employment rate from 5.4% in July to 5.2% in August.
The market believes that the slow pace of the job market combined with the Delta variant concerns have pushed the Fed to take a more patient approach and postpone its announcement for a September Taper.
The market believes that the Tapering announcement is likely to occur as early as November or towards December.

Gold

The market's expectations post US job data has pushed the Dollar to a one-month low as many expect the Taper to be delayed. The Delta variant is the major contributor to the low performance of the Dollar as the situation in other major economies are significantly better.
Gold performance has advanced 1% to its highest in a month on Friday as the market begins to lose confidence in the US economy and Dollar.
Spot Gold rose by 0.8% to $1,824.20/ounce.