Gold and silver ended the week in positive fashion after a weaker than anticipated employment report caused investors to question the US economy even more. Friday’s employment report was just one of many pieces of US economic data made public this week, though it was also arguably the most important.

As it stands, gold is hovering around $1,270 while silver is sitting right around $20 even. For the week, gold has picked up well over $30 and silver has done its part, gaining close to a dollar over the past 5 days. Next week will be a pivotal one for investors who have been paying close attention to the US economy’s recent woes.

Fewer Jobs Than Expected Added In January

Just a few days after the turn of the year, December’s employment report was made public. The market was high on its recent performance and was expecting a plethora of jobs to have been added during the month of December. When the report actually showed that job growth was significantly weaker than expected, the marketplace began to worry just a bit. That is why this week was so important to investors who have been hoping that January’s job growth bested that of December’s.

With last month’s jobs data still fresh in investors’ heads, the market expected only about 190,000 jobs to have been added in January. The employment data was published Friday morning and came in well short of the 190,000 expectations. Turns out that only a little more than 110,000 jobs were added in January, 113,000 to be exact. This news propelled gold and silver forward while simultaneously putting downward pressure on the US Dollar. Precious metals would have had an even better day to close out the week if the US equity markets had not regained their balance.

On the back end of this employment report is a lot of investor scrutiny with regard to the Fed’s recent decisions to taper Quantitative Easing. Though tapering’s real effects won’t be felt until sometime further down the road, the early signs are none too comforting for investors. All this equity uneasiness should sound like music to the ears of those invested in precious metals. As more questions begin to surface and even more people shy away from US equities, safe-haven demand for more stable assets like gold and silver will almost assuredly be on the rise.

Next week will be important to investors who want to receive a bit more insight into the current strength of the US economy. There are some pieces of economic data due out over the next 5 days of trading, but none that are as important as the reports we saw this week. Most Asian markets will remain quiet next week as the Lunar New Year celebration continues.