Gold Price Pulls Back from Session Highs Amid Strong US Jobs Data

The gold price on Friday pulled back from session highs of $4,486 to trade around $4,355 before rebounding to $4,424. The XAU/USD price is currently within a descending channel formation on the 60-minute chart.

From a fundamental perspective, the XAU/USD trades during a relatively busy period in the US market. On Friday, the US jobs data came in better than expected, with 162k new jobs added versus a forecast of 56k, up from the previous month's equivalent of 21k.

The unemployment rate for the month matched the expectation of 4.1%, unchanged from July. However, average hourly wage growth outshone the forecast (YoY) change of 3%, with a change of 3.1%. On Thursday, the US ISM Services PMI for August rose to 55.4, up from the previous month's equivalent of 54.1, beating the forecast reading of 54.3.

Technically, the gold price trades within a descending channel formation on the 60-minute chart. The 14-hour RSI also supports a bearish bias as it moves closer to oversold conditions. Therefore, the bears will look to extend the current run of declines toward $4,355 or lower, to $4,277.