London 31/08/2011 - Spot gold prices drifted back on Wednesday morning in Europe, waiting eagerly for a raft of US economic data, particularly US employment figures.

The US ADP non-farm Employment figures are the key indicator – these are expected to show that only 100,000 jobs were added in August, versus 114,000 in July. Figures also due this afternoon are the August Chicago PMI, July factory orders, and August Challenger job cuts.

In data so far, the EU CPI was 2.5 percent, as expected.

“With EU CPI stable and below its April peak at 2.8 percent, the ECB may feel it has room to ease monetary policy again – in turn that could weaken the euro and help support the dollar,” said William Adams, an analyst at FastMarkets.

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