Silver Rally Stalls, Investors Eye Employment Data

The woes of the U.S. manufacturing sector may have taken a toll on the labor market. On Wednesday, ADP nonfarm payrolls for August dropped sharply to 135 thousand, compared to 195 thousand a month earlier. Later on Thursday, the U.S. releases unemployment claims, which is expected to tick higher to 215 thousand, compared to 213 thousand last week. On Friday, we’ll get a look at the official nonfarm payroll report. Will it follow in the path of the ADP release and slow in August? We’ll also get a look at wage growth, which is expected to tick lower to 0.3%, after a reading of 0.4% in the previous release. If these key employment numbers are soft, nervous investors could snap up silver and send prices higher.