Gold exchange traded funds gained nearly 3% in premarket action Friday after the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls were flat in August.
The jobs report was weaker than expected, while the June and July figures were revised lower.
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) added 2.8% before Friday’s bell while global stock ETFs were set for a lower open. Gold prices rose by $50 to trade above $1,880 an ounce.
The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 9.1% in August.
“August was a pretty rough month for the economy,” Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Reuters. “We saw financial markets tighten. I think businesses sort of responded by putting hiring on the back burner.”
The $72 billion gold ETF is up nearly 30% so far this year as precious metals have rallied on the European debt crisis and worries economic weakness will trigger additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve.
SPDR Gold Shares
Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own GLD.