PRECIOUS-Gold cascades down as strong US jobs data and stop-selling weigh

​Gold prices fell to a near one-week low on Thursday as strong U.S. labour data dampened hopes of near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts, with a break ‌below $5,000 an ounce deepening losses as selling pressure intensified. Spot gold slipped 2.7% lower to $4,941.47 per ounce by 11:50 a.m. ET (1650 GMT). Bullion slipped to its lowest level since February 6 earlier in the session.

U.S. gold futures for April delivery ‌lost 2.7% to $4,962.10 per ounce. "Due to previous heightened volatility, a lot of people would have placed their stops either ‌below $5,000 or above the $5,100 level just to preserve their stop positions," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com.

"Because of the downward move, those stops have been triggered below the $5,000 level, and that caused a cascading-like effect, causing prices to slump in a ⁠short period of ​time." Data released on Wednesday ⁠showed the U.S. job market began 2026 on firmer footing than expected, reinforcing the view that policymakers may keep rates elevated for longer.

Nonfarm payrolls ⁠rose by 130,000 jobs in January, following a downwardly revised 48,000 increase in December, while the unemployment rate edged down to ​4.3%. Initial jobless claims fell to 227,000 in the week ended Feb. 7, data showed on Thursday.

Resilient labour ⁠market conditions reinforce the Fed's confidence in the economy, allowing policymakers to maintain elevated rates to ensure inflation continues to ease. Bullion, in turn, is ⁠pressured ​by high interest rates due to its non-yielding nature. Investors now await U.S. inflation data due on Friday for more cues on the Fed's monetary policy path.

"It looks like the expectation is that headline CPI is ⁠going to slow from 2.7% to 2.5%, perhaps as low as 2.4%. That may revive some rate-cut bets and that ⁠would probably be favourable for ⁠gold," said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals. Silver dropped 10.2% to $75.42/oz, after a 4% climb on Wednesday. Spot platinum shed 6.1% to $2,001.79/oz, while palladium lost ‌3.9% to $1,634.14.