(Kitco News) - The gold market is holding its ground even as it faces further headwinds from a relatively healthy labor market, with the number of American workers applying for first-time unemployment benefits remaining below a key level for the third consecutive month.Initial claims for state unemployment benefits came in at a seasonally adjusted 297,000 for the week ending September 26, the Labor Department announced Thursday. The number was slightly better than expectations. The previous week’s figure was revised slightly higher to 198,000 claims.Analysts note that a stable labor market gives the Federal Reserve room to raise interest rates at next week’s monetary policy meeting. Expectations for at least one more rate hike before the end of the year are supporting U.S. 10-year yields near 5.30%, their highest level in nearly 20 years.Despite elevated opportunity costs, gold is not seeing any major reaction to the positive employment data. Spot gold last traded at $4,182.50 per ounce, up 0.65% on the day.

(Kitco News) - Gold is trading not far from session lows after the latest data showed the U.S. manufacturing sector as a whole performing below expectations last month, while prices shot dramatically higher in September.The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) announced on Thursday that its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index fell to 54.5 in September, after posting a reading of 54.6 in August. The headline number was lower than expected, as consensus forecasts looked for a reading of 55. “In September, U.S. manufacturing activity remained in expansion territory,” said Susan Spence, Chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “Of the five subindexes that make up the PMI, only New Orders and Employment grew faster than the previous month. In September, 40 percent of the comments were positive and 60 percent negative, with a 1-to-1.6 ratio of positive to negative sentiment. Among negative comments, pricing volatility was mentioned in 46 percent, tariffs 34 percent, the Iran war 30 percent and increasing lead times 21 percent; most comments mentioned multiple factors.”Spot gold fell to a session low of $4,139 overnight, and was continuing to trade not far from its lows following the 10 a.m. ET release. Spot gold last traded at $4,158.26 per ounce for a slight gain of 0.03% on the day.The components of the report showed a mixed picture across key areas, while Prices shot higher compared to the prior month. “The New Orders Index expanded for the ninth consecutive month after four straight readings in contraction, registering 55.3 percent, up 1.6 percentage points compared to August’s figure of 53.7 percent,” Spence noted. “The September reading of the Production Index (56.7 percent) is 1.6 percentage points lower than the 58.3 percent recorded in August. The Prices Index remained in expansion (or ‘increasing’ territory), registering 77.9 percent, a notable increase of 6.8 percentage points compared to August’s reading of 71.1 percent. The Backlog of Orders Index registered 56.4 percent, up 4.6 percentage points compared to the 51.8 percent recorded in August. The Employment Index reading of 52.7 percent is up 1.5 percentage points from August’s figure of 51.2 percent.”