Spot gold rebounds to $5,130/oz after U.S. weekly jobless claims hold at 213k

Gold rebounded quickly after a pre-data dip as U.S. jobless claims came in essentially in line, limiting any hawkish repricing. Spot gold sold off to a session low of $5,081.23 just ahead of the 08:30 ET release, then retraced more than half the move and was last at $5,130.45/oz, down 0.20% on the day. Initial claims printed 213k for the week ended Feb 28 versus 215k expected, with the prior week revised up to 213k. The 4-week moving average fell to 215,750 (prior revised 220,500) versus 222k expected, signaling marginally firmer labor conditions in the near term. However, continuing claims rose to 1.868m for the week ended Feb 21 (vs 1.850m expected; prior revised 1.822m), pointing to some softening in job-finding dynamics. Market implication: the “near-consensus” print supports a range-trading backdrop for gold around the data, with dip-buying evident into the $5,080 area and spot needing a reclaim/hold above ~$5,130 to stabilize intraday. Near-term catalysts remain additional U.S. labor/inflation releases and any resulting shifts in front-end rates and USD; the split between lower initial claims and higher continuing claims keeps the policy signal mixed and could preserve two-way risk in gold.