• Gold price climbs above $2,460 as the US bond yields and the US Dollar face pressure ahead of the US NFP for July.
• The Fed appears comfortable with market speculation for interest rate cuts in September.
• Higher jobless claims and lower Unit Labor Costs point to a slowdown in US labor demand.

Gold price (XAU/USD) exhibits sheer strength in Friday’s European session ahead of the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data for July, which will be published at 12:30 GMT. The official Employment data will indicate the current status of the labor market, which will influence market speculation for a US Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cut in September.

The US NFP report is expected to show that 175K new workers were hired in July, a decrease from the previous addition of 206K. The Unemployment Rate is expected to remain steady at 4.1%.

Investors will also focus on the Average Hourly Earnings data, a key measure of wage growth that fuels consumer spending and eventually drives price pressures. Annually, the wage growth measure is estimated to have decelerated to 3.7% from the prior reading of 3.9%, with the monthly figure growing steadily by 0.3%. Softer-than-expected wage growth data will diminish fears of persistent inflation, which will strengthen Fed rate-cut prospects. On the contrary, stubborn numbers would weaken them.