XAU/USD: Gold Prices Ease Near $3,360 After Big Job-Fueled Friday Pop. What’s Next?

Slow start Monday morning saw bullion take it easy as markets were still dizzy from Friday’s data dump — how many jobs were taken out again?

🧈 Profit-Taking After a Golden Friday

• Gold prices XAUUSD dipped slightly Monday to around $3,360 as traders locked in profits from Friday’s surge, when weaker jobs data jolted rate-cut hopes back to life.
• Friday’s rally pushed bullion close to last-week’s highs, up 2.2% on the day, marking its sharpest single-day gain since early June. But with no fresh catalysts Monday, prices took a breather. (More or less that’s also what the whole week will look like.)
• Against that backdrop, the shiny metal remains up roughly 2.5% since last Monday, showing that investor appetite is still there —traders are just digesting the latest macro headlines and figuring out what to do next.

🔔 Jobs Data Sparks Fed Cut Buzz

• The US economy added just 73,000 jobs in July — a huge miss from the 115,000 forecast. Revisions for May and June stripped 258,000 jobs from the books (and got the BLS chief fired by Trump).
• With the labor market suddenly looking softer, traders are now pricing in an 81% chance of a September Fed rate cut, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
• That’s music to gold’s ears: lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like bullion, often boosting its appeal.

♟️ Gold and the Macro Chessboard

• Gold often thrives during economic uncertainty and political noise, and right now it has both — soft labor data, Fed indecision, and tariff-driven tension.
• A rate cut in September could ignite another leg up in bullion, especially if paired with ongoing dollar weakness and slowing global growth. But there’s always a chance of the “buy the rumor, sell the news” narrative playing out.
• Still, don’t expect a straight line: gold is trading near resistance, and this week’s action may depend heavily on Trump commentary and any trade deal chatter now that China and the US have entered yet into yet another 90-day tariff extension.