Weak U.S. jobs report Gold prices are likely to extend their upward trend

On Tuesday, the ISM services PMI will be the highlight of the U.S. economic report. The services PMI is expected to remain above 50 in February, highlighting the continued expansion of business activity in the services sector. In January, the price payment index in the PMI survey jumped to 64 from 56.7 in December, indicating an acceleration in input cost inflation. A similar increase in the inflation component in February could boost the US dollar and have a direct impact on gold. ADP employment changes for February and JOLTS job shorts for January, which will be released on Wednesday, will be the first employment-related data to be released this week. A change in ADP employment below 100,000 could indicate looser labor market conditions, putting pressure on the dollar. As for the JOLTS report, the number of job shorts has been fluctuation around 9 million since October. Unless there is a significant change in the data, investors may not react ahead of Friday's February jobs report.