GOLD PRICE RETREATS AMID STRONG US DOLLAR, FALLING US YIELDS

• Gold down 0.4% as stronger USD, lower Treasury yields follow weak US jobs data.
• Missed US April Nonfarm Payrolls heighten focus on potential Fed rate adjustments in September.
• Market awaits Fed officials' comments and key data, including jobless claims and consumer sentiment indices.

Gold price slipped during the North American session, dropping around 0.4% amid a strong US Dollar and falling US Treasury bond yields. A scarce economic docket in the United States (US) would keep investors focused on Federal Reserve ( officials during the week after last Friday’s US employment report.

The XAU/USD trades at $2,315 after hitting a daily high of $2,329. The financial markets narrative is focused on when the Fed will begin to ease policy following the release of softer economic data. The US Department of Labor revealed that April’s Nonfarm Payrolls came in at 175K, missing estimates and trailing March’s upward revised 315K figure.

Following the data release, the CME FedWatch Tool shows odds for a quarter of a percentage point cut in September increased from 55% before the report to 85%.

Nevertheless, recent hawkish comments by Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who said that the Fed might stand put on interest rates and opened the door to raising the federal funds rate if inflation doesn’t resume its downtrend, bolstered the Greenback.

The economic docket for the current week will examine further Fed officials crossing the wires, along with Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending May 4 and the preliminary release of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment.