Dollar Sinks, Gold Gains On Weak Jobs Report

The dollar sank and gold gained Wednesday after a monthly report on U.S. employment growth came in weaker than expected.

The report, from Automatic Data Processing ADP, said that private sector employment increased by 169,000 jobs from March to April, the second straight month of job gains under 200,000.

Wall Street had expected April growth of about 200,000 jobs.

The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish UUP, which tracks the dollar against major currencies, was off more than 1 percent Wednesday morning.

Gold ticked higher, with contracts for June delivery up 0.1 percent recently to $1,194.70 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Related Link: Gold Futures Remain Range Bound

Fallout from the collapse of oil prices and the surging value of the dollar are weighing on job creation, according to economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics, which co-sponsors the ADP report.

Employment in the energy sector and manufacturing is declining, but Zandi said job growth will reaccelerate this summer.

The U.S. Labor Department will post its larger monthly non-farm payrolls report Friday.