6th April 2017

We have been seeing quite a bit of volatility over the past 12 hours or so in various markets, with gold contributing its fair share. The precious metal sank early on in Wednesday’s session - down almost $10/ounce of one point - largely on account of a firmer dollar and soaring US equity markets. The equity rally was triggered in part by blowout private ADP employment data where we saw US companies adding 263,000 workers in March, the most since December 2014 and well above the 187,000 expected. Reuters notes that all 11 major S&P 500 sectors were up at one point, with financials and technology stocks seeing the biggest moves. NASDAQ also hit an all-time high, while the Dow itself was up some 200 points at one point. However, the gains did not last as a sharp fade set in over the afternoon.