Gold spiked higher early Friday as the Department of Labor reported that no new jobs were created in the U.S. in August, the first time there’s been no net increase in jobs in 11 months.

Spot gold was trading at $1,872.60 Bid, $1,873.60 Ask, up $47.20, or 2.59%, an ounce on the day thus far, hitting a high of $1,882.30 and a low of $1,858.50. The London p.m. price was fixed at $1,875.25.

Spot silver was trading at $42.73 Bid, $42.83 Ask, up $1.23, or 2.96% per ounce, hitting a high of $43.29 and a low of $42.36. The London a.m. price fix was set at $42.50, according to Kitco market data.

The U.S. unemployment rate was constant month-to-month, coming in at 9.1%, the Labor Department reported heading into the Labor Day weekend. The report does include some 45,000 striking Verizon workers who have since returned to work. Government jobs continue to be lost at the federal, state and local level, however: 17,000 government jobs were eliminated in August.

In exchange trading, gold and silver trusts were sharply higher early Friday.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was about 2.75% higher.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was up about the same.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was showing gains of around 3.5%.

Gold and silver miners ETFs were moving up strongly.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was up about 2.8%.
• The Market Vector Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was more than 3% higher.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was up around 1.9%.

Shares of gold miners were marching higher as well.

• Agnico Eagle Mines (USA) (NYSE:AEM) was more than 3% higher.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was nearly 3.5% higher.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was up around 3%.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was 1.7% higher.
• NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) was around 0.1% higher.

Silver mining shares were sharply higher, with Coeur D’Alene Mines up more than 5% on the day thus far.

• Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was nearly 5% higher.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was up more than 5%.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was up around 4.5%.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) was around 3.3% higher.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was 4.25% higher.

The author does not hold positions in any of the above-mentioned investments.