Gold Futures Climb Higher, Settle At Over 6-month High

Gold prices surged higher on Tuesday and lifted the most active gold futures contract to a more than 6-month closing high, as concerns about economic slowdown and high inflation pushed up the demand for the safe-haven commodity.

Gold prices climbed higher despite a strong dollar. The dollar index surged to 104.86 before paring some gains. Still, at 104.56, the dollar index was up as much as 1% from the previous close.

Gold futures for February ended higher by $19.90 or about 1.1% at $1,846.10 an ounce, the highest settlement since June 16.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.196 at $24.236 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.7665 per pound, down $0.0440 from the previous close.

Investors are looking ahead to a slew of economic data this week. Data on manufacturing and service sector activity as well the minutes from the latest meeting of the Federal Reserve are due out this week.

The ADP data on private sector employment, and the non-farm payroll report are also due this week.

Twitter Asks Court To Dismiss Case Regarding Mass Layoffs

Twitter Inc. (TWTR) has asked a California federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by more than 100 former employees over the “mass layoffs” the new CEO Elon Musk brought into force after he took over the social media giant.

The company’s lawyers argued that the employees bringing the potential class-action suit don’t have enough in common for the case to be classified as a class action. The attorneys also argued in the December 23 court filing that the complaints made are “vague, imprecise” allegations.

“Plaintiffs do not even attempt to define a class, making only passing reference to ‘thousands of other Twitter employees,’ or ‘other similarly situated Twitter employees,'” an attorney for Twitter told the court.

The group bringing the suit includes employees who have already been laid off and others who won’t be terminated until January or February. Twitter’s lawyers want the case thrown out or moved to a Delaware court, which is handling disputes relating to Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the platform.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer representing employees, said she remains “confident in our claims”. She said, “We call on Elon Musk to show some holiday spirit and honor the law and promises made to Twitter employees. If not, we are ready to take him on in 2023.”

Cool Americans

European grocery aisles and the items they contain say a lot about how Americans are viewed overseas.

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Text and Illustrations by Rachelle Meyer

Oil Futures Settle Sharply Lower On Recession Fears

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to rising fears of a recession.

A report from the International Monetary Fund says about one third of the world economy will likely go into a recession this year.

Traders also reacted to comments from New York Fed President William Dudley, who said a U.S. economic downturn is likely. A stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $3.33 or about 4.2% at $76.93 a barrel, a two-week low.

Brent crude futures dropped $3.81 or about 4.4% to $82.10 a barrel.

Data showing a drop in Chinese manufacturing activity also weighed on oil prices. According to a survey, China’s factory activity deteriorated further at the end of the year as Covid containment measures together with softer demand forces manufacturers to downsize production.

The Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index edged down to 49.0 in December from 49.4 in the previous month, remaining below the neutral 50.0 mark for the fifth straight month.

The official PMI survey results published over the weekend also showed that China’s manufacturing and services sectors weakened the most since early 2020.

Restaurant Review: At Corner Bar, a Rule-Breaking Chef Plays It Straight

The new bistro from Ignacio Mattos, who made his name with iconoclastic places like Estela, is safe, correct and satisfying.

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By Pete Wells

Tiny Love Stories: ‘A Wife Who Left’

Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words.

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German Unemployment Unexpectedly Falls

Germany’s unemployment declined unexpectedly in December despite the economy moving closer to a likely recession.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent in December, data from the Federal Labor Agency revealed Tuesday. Economists had forecast the rate to remain at November’s initially estimated 5.6 percent.

The number of people out of work decreased by 13,000 in December after rising 15,000 in November. This fall was also in contrast to the expected increase of 15,000.

Official data released today showed that the jobless rate held steady at seasonally adjusted 3.0 percent in November. According to the labor force survey, the number of people out of work decreased 6,500 from October to 1.32 million.

A survey conducted by the ifo Institute in December suggested that German employers’ intentions to take new staff fell slightly at the end of the year amid recession concerns. The ifo Employment Barometer dropped to a three-month low of 99.5 points in December from 99.6 points in November.

The largest euro area economy is widely expected to enter a mild recession in the winter before recovering by the spring. In the third quarter of 2022, the economy had expanded 0.4 percent.