Gold falls in Asia following encouraging U.S. data points

Gold futures started the new week modestly lower as the yellow metal’s safe have status might be seen as unappealing in a risk-on environment that has arguably been bolstered by U.S. economic reports released last week.

Futures rose last Friday’s U.S. session after the the Labor Department said the world’s largest economy added 157,000 new jobs in January, below economists’ expectations calling for 160,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 7.9% from 7.8%.

Still, riskier assets moved higher after the November and December jobs numbers were revised noticeably higher and a couple of other decent data points were absorbed by market participants.

Oil lower following eight consecutive winning weeks

Oil futures traded slightly to start the week in Asia as traders are perhaps taking profits after crude booked its eighth consecutive week of gains last week on the back of some encouraging U.S. economic data points.

Natural gas futures - Weekly outlook: February 4 – 8

Natural gas futures ended Friday’s session lower, as traders continued to monitor weather forecasts for the next few weeks in an attempt to gauge the impact of shifting forecasts on winter heating demand