Gold Finally Trading Higher After 9 Down Days

The Labor Department reported September U.S. jobs growth of 156,000 on Friday, slightly below consensus expectations of 175,000. Despite the miss, yet another month of solid job growth is further evidence for the Federal Reserve that the economy can handle another interest rate hike by the end of the year.

After opening slightly higher, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY took a nosedive within the first 30 minutes of trading in response to the jobs numbers.

Gold, on the other hand, is showing signs of life on Friday. Following nine consecutive down days, the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) GLD is up 0.4 percent in volatile early trading on Friday.

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In addition to the 156,000 additional jobs, the Labor Department also reported a slight uptick in the unemployment rate from 4.9 percent to 5.0 percent. However, wage growth came in at 2.6 percent on the month. While still short of 3.0 percent, it’s a relatively strong number compared to the sub-2.0 percent growth rate that lingered for years since the last recession.

During its nine-session losing streak, the GLD had fallen 6.3 percent. Despite the recent pullback, the gold ETF has still significantly outperformed stocks in 2016. The GLD is up 18.4 percent this year compared to a 5.5 percent gain by the SPY.

The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF GDX was up more than 1 percent, while the two gold miner ETFs -- Direxion Shares Exchange Traded Fund Trust JNUG Direxion Shares Exchange Traded Fund Trust NUGT -- were up more than 6 percent.