By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- The price of gold rose again on Friday for a second-straight day, on course to end the week roughly where it started.
Gold profited from a flight to haven assets after a larger-than-expected loss of 700,000 jobs in the U.S. economy in the month to March, figures that suggested that, if anything, the pace of job losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic is even faster than thought.
Around 10 million Americans – some 6% of the workforce - have applied for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks alone as sweeping lockdowns have disrupted nearly every corner of economic life.
By 12:25 PM ET, gold futures for delivery on the Comex exchange were up 0.3% at $1,643.00 a troy ounce, just off their highest since Tuesday. Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,615.81.
The arbitrage between spot and futures market continued, as demand for bars and coins in Europe continued to outstrip supply. Swiss refiner PAMP, one of three refiners forced to shut down last week because of coronavirus-related disruptions, said it had been allowed to reopen on Friday, but was only running below 50% capacity.
The demand for havens was also evidenced by a further drop in longer-dated Treasury yields. The benchmark 10-year yield fell 4 basis points to 0.58%, to be down 10 basis points on the week.
European government bond yields reacted differently, however, as a shocking round of purchasing manager indices underlined the systemic risks in the euro zone arising from the sharp expected rise in government debt levels. Germany and the Netherlands in particular continue to reject the issuance of joint debt to fund the euro zone’s crisis response, something that threatens to leave the likes of Italy and Greece with unserviceable debt burdens in the longer term.
The 10-year Bund yield stayed steady at -0.44%, but spreads to peripheral euro sovereigns all widened.
Elsewhere, silver futures fell 0.3% to $14.63 an ounce, while platinum futures fell 1.8% to $717.10.
Copper futures fell 1.1% to $2.19 a pound.