Gold edged up to around $3,330 per ounce on Friday, heading for a weekly advance as concerns over the US fiscal deficit and lingering tariff uncertainty boosted the metal’s safe-haven appeal. On Thursday, the House approved President Donald Trump’s massive package of tax and spending cuts, which is expected to add more than $3 trillion to the country’s deficit over the next decade.
Meanwhile, Trump said he would begin sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on imports to the US—a clear shift from earlier pledges to negotiate individual deals. However, gold’s upside was capped by strong US labor market data, which showed that firms added a more-than-expected 147,000 jobs in June and the jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 4.1%, strengthening the case for the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates steady. For the week, the precious metal is on track to post a gain of over 1%, ending two consecutive weeks of losses.
