NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- Gold prices were relatively flat Friday as they waited for the U.S. jobs number.
Gold for February delivery was losing $1.70 to $1,387.60 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price Friday has traded as high as $1,394.10 and as low as $1,385.30.
The U.S. dollar index was losing 0.24% to $80.08 while the euro added 0.13% to $1.32 vs. the dollar. The spot gold price was up 80 cents, according to Kitco's gold index.
Gold prices were in wait-and-see mode as they waited for the November unemployment report out of the U.S. Expectations are that 144,000 nonfarm jobs will be added and that the private sector will add 100,000 jobs. The unemployment rate is expected to stay unchanged, however, at 9.6% as more people entered or returned to the work force.
Gold prices, meanwhile, are continuing their upward trajectory as the euro gained on better-than-expected October retail sales from the 16 eurozone nations as well as speculation that the European Central Bank was buying Portuguese and Irish bonds.
Despite the fact that Jean-Claude Trichet did not deliver a shock-and-awe attack on debt problems during the central bank's meeting on interest rates, the news that the ECB was not abandoning the EU nations and was trying to support the euro calmed jittery investors for the near term.
The news propped up the euro, weighed on the dollar and helped gold. "How much higher do we go when every other commercial on TV or in print publications talk about the importance of buying or selling gold," says Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's equity research division. "Our view from a technical perspective is that we could eclipse the $1,500 in the next couple of months and longer term we don't think that $2,000 per ounce is out of the question."
Stovall cites the recurring debt worries around the globe as highlighting gold's appeal as a safe haven asset. In addition, with interest rates historically low, investors' rate of return on cash is also low which makes gold attractive as a higher store of value despite the fact that it doesn't pay a dividend.
