Higher For Three Consecutive Days

Gold is 0.3% higher in the Asia-Pac session, after closing higher for the third day in a row at 1977.61 (+0.8%).

• The bipartisan agreement, which aims to suspend the debt limit until Jan. 1, 2025, has been approved by the House and the Senate and now goes to US President Biden to be signed into law. This eliminates a significant risk to financial markets that had provided support to gold in early May.
• ADP private employment data exceeded expectations, aligning with the strength seen in the JOLTs data on Wednesday. This initially fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve may need to take further measures to cool down the labour market and control inflation. However, subsequent comments from central bank officials and weaker-than-expected unit labour costs data eased concerns of an imminent interest rate hike, which provided support to non-yielding gold.
• Attention now turns to May Non-Farm Payrolls later today. BBG consensus expects an increase of 195k after +253k in April with the unemployment rate expected to rise to 3.5% from 3.4%.