This morning the U.S. Labor Department released its monthly nonfarm payroll jobs report. As expected, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, as the numbers of American workers who flocked to the unemployment office did so in force.

If you recall from my articles from earlier this week, first on Tuesday, May 5 titled “Gold prices firm as U.S. dollar continues to climb”, we included a daily candlestick chart which included a hand-drawn compression triangle, commonly referred to as a pennant formation. We also included an arrow indicating that we were expecting a breakout to the upside.

The data is clear, today’s ADP jobs report indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression.

Today’s numbers are the worst job loss in the history of the ADP report.

The dollar index has been firming ever since it reached a low of 98.75, and recovered closing at 99.10 on Friday, April 1. Over the last two trading days we have seen the U.S. dollar firm. Today the dollar index gained approximately ¼ of a percent and is fixed at 99.825.

The coronavirus pandemic has taken us into uncharted territory. The world has not witnessed a pandemic of this magnitude since the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918. That pandemic infected an estimated 500 million people, roughly 1/3 of the world’s population at that time and lasted for approximately two years. The death toll for the Spanish flu reached approximately 50 million individuals.

While it is a little too early to say that the price correction in gold which began on the 23^rd of last month is over, the first signs of a potential bottom have appeared today. Gold pricing did recover this morning, however at the same time, gold traded to the lowest intraday price of $1676 since the intraday low of $1666.50 seen on April 21^st.

Gold futures declined over $19 today, with the most active contract (June 2020) breaking below a key support level at $1700, and is currently fixed at $1693.90 However, even with the declines that have occurred this week gold pricing still gained 6% this month.

Gold which had been trading lower throughout the trading session overseas last night, also traded lower just prior to the release of the Federal Reserve’s statement, and Chairman Jerome Powell’s Q&A session which followed ½ hour after the release of the statement.

Gold futures are currently trading at $1724.40, which is a net gain on the day of $0.60. This after the numbers for the consumer confidence index sank from $118.8 in March to $86.9 in April.

Equities in the United States traded higher today, this in response to the easing of restrictive lockdowns in many countries. The United States has outline plans to ease the restrictions and begin to effectively reopen in phases.