Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD posts modest gains to near $2,750, eyes on US presidential election, Fed decision

• Gold price trades in positive territory around $2,740 in Monday’s early Asian session. 
• The US added just 12,000 jobs in October, the weakest since December 2020.
• Traders will closely monitor the US presidential election and Fed rate decision this week. 

Gold price (XAU/USD) trades with mild gains, snapping the two-day losing streak near $2,740 during the early Asian session on Monday. The uncertainty around the US presidential election and Middle East tensions might boost the safe-haven demand, supporting the yellow metal. 

The upside of the precious metal is bolstered by looming US election uncertainties and ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The spotlight for this week will be the US presidential election on Tuesday. JPMorgan analysts noted that regardless of the outcome of the US election, any pullback in gold prices would present a good buying opportunity.

The weaker US October Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data boosts rate cut hopes as markets now expect a 25 basis points (bps) rate cut from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) at next Thursday’s meeting. The US NFP increased by 12,000 in October, the smallest gain since December 2020, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed Friday. This figure followed the 223,000 rise (revised from 254,000) seen in September and below the market consensus of 113,000 by a wide margin. The Unemployment Rate was unchanged at 4.1% in October, matching expectations. 

On the other hand, the renewed Greenback demand and higher yields might weigh on the USD-denominated Gold price as higher yields made non-yielding assets like bullion less attractive in comparison.