Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD climbs above $4,150 as US shutdown ends

• Gold price rises to around $4,185 in Friday's early Asian session. 
• Markets are bracing for a flood of delayed economic reports that could signal a slowing US economy. 
• Fed officials remain cautious about further rate cuts amid concerns about inflation. 

Gold price (XAU/USD) trades in positive territory near $4,185 during the early Asian session on Friday. The precious metal drifts higher as traders anticipate that the reopening of the US government will restore the flow of economic data and reinforce bets of further US interest rate cuts.

A record shutdown in US history ended on Thursday after Trump signed a funding bill to reopen the government. The House of Representatives approved the bill earlier Thursday in a 222-209 vote, with nearly every Republican and a handful of Democrats voting for it. The expectation that US economic data released after the end of the shutdown will reveal US labor market weakness could weigh on the US Dollar (USD) and lift the USD-denominated commodity price in the near term. 

On Thursday, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said that the government would publish the October employment data, but without the Unemployment Rate due to the lack of a household survey that month.

On the other hand, the cautious tone from the Fed officials could undermine the yellow metal. Boston Fed President Susan Collins used cautious language to express her opinion on policy, saying that it will likely be appropriate to keep policy rates at the current level for some time to balance the inflation and employment risks in this highly uncertain environment. 

Meanwhile, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic on Wednesday and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack on Thursday have also expressed a preference for holding rates steady.

Markets are now pricing in a more than 51% chance that the Fed will cut its benchmark overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point at its December meeting, down from 62.9% odds that markets priced in a day ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.