Ramallah – “Jerusalem” dot com – Gold prices fell to their lowest level in a week today, Monday, while the dollar and bond yields rose, after data on US jobs reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve (US Central Bank) will continue to raise interest rates sharply. .

By 1:30 am, gold was trading in spot transactions at $1,679.32 an ounce, down $15.7, or 0.93%.

US gold futures fell $23, or 1.34%, to $1,686.35 an ounce. On the other hand, the dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six major rival currencies, rose 0.33% to 113.052 points.

The dollar rose against the Israeli currency by 0.52%, to spend about 3.56 shekels, and the US bond yield for ten years increased by 1.5%.

The attractiveness of gold decreases, the higher the dollar, due to the higher cost of acquiring the yellow metal for holders of other currencies.

Gold preserves value and does not generate returns, and moves in the opposite direction with bonds that make profits for investors.

The decline in gold and the rise in the dollar and bond yields came after US official data showed, last Friday, the growth of jobs in the non-agricultural private sector, which grew more than expected.

The Labor Department said that the US economy created 263,000 new jobs last September, about 13,000 more than analysts' expectations.

In parallel, the US economy is still facing the fastest inflation wave in 40 years, reaching 8.3% in August, and inflation data for September is expected to be released next Thursday, amid expectations that it will slow down to 8.1%, but it remains four times the target rate of the US Central Bank at 2%. Employment data and inflation are the two most important parameters that the central bank monitors.

The bank's open market committee is scheduled to meet on the second of next November, amid expectations of raising interest rates by 75 basis points for the fourth time in a row.