Gold Slips Under Pressure as Hawkish Fed Bets and Iran Tensions Rise

The price of Gold (XAU/USD) has remained under selling pressure for two consecutive days, but it is holding above $4,400 during the Asian session. The precious metal's resilience below this level suggests caution for bearish traders before positioning for further losses.

The US Nonfarm Payrolls report released on Friday showed that the economy added 162K new jobs in August, surpassing consensus estimates of a reading of 56K by a wide margin. However, the Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at 4.1%, as expected, and annual wage inflation fell to 3.1% from 3.2%.

The hawkish outlook on interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is acting as a tailwind for the US Dollar (USD) and undermining Gold. Fed Governor Christopher Waller stated that he was inclined to argue in favor of keeping rates steady if upcoming data confirmed inflation pressures were cooling.