– Gold prices are holding on to support around $1,900 but is seeing some renewed selling pressure as fewer American workers than expected applied for unemployment benefits.

Thursday, the Labor Department said that 787,000 million Americans filed for first-time U.S. jobless claims in the week to Saturday, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 56,000 from 898,000 to 842,000.

The latest labor market data significantly beat expectations with consensus forecasts calling for claims to come in around 860,000. The better than expected data is helping to keep some pressure on gold prices. December gold futures last traded at $1,905.80 an ounce, down more than 1.2% on the day.

This is the lowest reading in weekly jobless claims since the U.S. labor market was decimated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, economists also noted that jobless claims are still well above the pre-pandemic record level of 671,000.

The four-week moving average for new claims – often viewed as a more reliable measure of the labor market since it smooths out week-to-week volatility – was 811,250 down 21,500 claims from the previous week.

Continuing jobless claims, the number of people already receiving benefits and reported with a one-week delay, fell to 8.373 million, for the week ending Oct. 10. Continuing claims dropped down 1.024 million from the previous week.