With the Labor Department reporting that the unemployment rate in October soared to 10.2 percent, marking the highest level since 1983, gold prices surged to $1,101.90 per ounce on Friday, thereby going beyond an all-time high for the third time during the week!

The Comex unit of the New York Mercantile Exchange saw gold for December delivery surging for the fifth day, rising $6.40, or 0.6 percent, to $1,095.70. The price has witnessed a 5.3 percent rise this week, after having set records on November 3 and 4.

While gold rallied on the higher-than-expected unemployment figures and fears related to an economic recovery, other precious metals with an industrial component plunged, with an evidently dented demand outlook. 

Going by the figures brought forth by the US Labor Department, after a slash of 219,000 jobs in September, employers cut as many as 190,000 jobs in October; thereby surpassing the 175,000 lay-offs’ number estimated by 84 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

The disquieting unemployment numbers reinforced the hearsay the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates near zero into next year.

Commenting on the situation, Jay Mueller, who manages nearly $3 billion of bonds at Wells Fargo Capital Management in Milwaukee, said: “The job market will have to stabilize and maybe get better before we see the Fed doing anything,” said “This is going to be a slow grind in terms of recovery.”