Last night, regarding news, data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in April the number of job vacancies jumped to 7.62 million, the highest level in nearly two years and well above economists’ expectations of 6.87 million. The number of layoffs fell to 1.692 million, far below market expectations. The resilience of the labor market supports the Federal Reserve’s hawkish outlook. According to Iranian media, in order to protest the expansion of Israeli military actions in Lebanon, Iran will pause communication with the U.S. through intermediaries and plans to completely block the Strait of Hormuz. U.S.-Iran negotiations have once again entered a complicated situation. $XAUUSD

The repeated swings of geopolitics are again making gold price movements uncertain. In addition, U.S. inflation expectations remain relatively high, and the resilience of the economy and the labor market adds further support. The Federal Reserve as a whole may still be relatively hawkish, and at certain stages it may even reflect expectations of interest-rate hikes. The risk of chasing the price upward remains relatively high, so allocating on pullbacks remains the main operational strategy. Especially around the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting, caution is advised, and expectations for the first half of the year should be lowered.