Everbright Futures: Strong Non-Farm Payrolls Suppress Rate Cut Expectations, Gold Prices' Gains Narrow

Yesterday, COMEX gold continued to fluctuate at high levels above 5000 points, closing at $5107.8 per ounce, up 1.53%. The domestic SHFE gold night session opened higher and fluctuated, closing at 1130.70 yuan per gram, up 0.44%. The report released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday showed that the number of non-farm jobs added in January was 130,000, far exceeding the market consensus expectation of 65,000 and marking the largest monthly increase in over a year; the January unemployment rate slightly unexpectedly fell to 4.3%, with expectations and previous values both at 4.4%. However, while releasing the January employment data, the U.S. Department of Labor also announced that the total employment growth for 2025 was sharply revised downward from the initially reported 584,000 to 181,000, meaning the average monthly new jobs decreased from about 49,000 to about 15,000, making 2025 the worst year for employment performance since 2003, excluding years of economic crises. Amid the impact of one strong and one weak data point, the dollar’s trend fluctuated during the session but remained generally stable, with limited influence on gold prices. Market focus may shift to this Friday’s U.S. CPI data and its guidance on interest rate cut expectations. (Everbright Futures)