By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Friday morning in Asia after hitting a three-week high in the previous session.
Gold futures gained 0.66% to $1,671.75 by 9:35 PM ET (1:35 GMT), continuing its gains after hitting $1,735.96 during the previous session.
Investors turned to the yellow metal after digesting mixed Chinese industrial production and retail sales data, as well as Thursday’s U.S. jobless claims data.
Meanwhile, China presented a mixed picture of its recovery from the COVID-19 virus as its said that industrial production in April increased 3.9% year-on-year, higher than the 1.5% predicted by analyst forecasts prepared by Investing.com.
But it also said that retail sales in the same month slid 7.5% year-on-year, against analyst forecasts of a 7% drop.
Meanwhile, the U.S. said that said 2.981 Americans lost their jobs over the past week, Although the number has been declining over a six-week period, over 36 million claims have been filed since late March.
Investors will also be monitoring whether the latest stimulus bill proposed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, which was rejected by the Republicans, will make a resurrection. A White House spokesman said overnight that U.S. President Donald Trump is open to negotiations on a possible stimulus bill, but not the one proposed on Tuesday.
Trump also poked at simmering U.S.-China tensions, threatening to cut ties with Beijing and stating that he did not want to speak with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.