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Gold headed for its biggest two-day drop in 30 years on Monday as funds accelerated their exits from the market, and investors also cut exposure to oil, copper and grain after underwhelming Chinese growth data.

Retail sales contracted in March for the second time in three months, a sign the American economy may have stumbled at the end of the first quarter.

This year now looks unlikely to deliver much improvement in the world economy's growth rate, with a weaker outlook for Europe and the United States tempering the cautious optimism that was evident in January.

U.S. retailers are reporting modest sales gains for March as consumers held back due to cold weather during the month and continued worry about the economy. Overall, 14 retailers reported on Thursday that revenue at stores open at least a year — a key indicator of retail health — rose an average of 0.6 percent. That number comes from the research firm Retail Metrics.

The number of Americans seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to a seasonally adjusted 346,000, suggesting March's weak month of hiring may be a temporary slowdown.

A few Federal Reserve policymakers expected to taper the pace of asset purchases by midyear and end them later this year, while several others expected to slow the pace a bit later and halt the quantitative easing program by year-end, according to minutes of the Fed's March meeting.

U.S. employers added just 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months and a sharp retreat after a period of strong hiring. The slowdown may signal that the economy is heading into a weak spring. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 percent, the lowest in four years, from 7.7 percent. But the rate fell only because more people stopped looking for work. People who are out of work are no longer counted as unemployed once they stop looking for a job.

Gold hit a 10-month low and industrially focused precious metals extended a slump, as investors continued to favor other assets on hopes for a steadying global economy.

From household wealth to spending at stores, many of the U.S. economy's vital signs have recovered from the damage done by the Great Recession. Home foreclosures and layoffs have dropped to pre-recession levels.

Japan is making a sweeping shift in its monetary policy, aiming to spur inflation and get the world's third-largest economy out of a long, debilitating slump. Bowing to demands from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for more aggressive monetary easing, the Bank of Japan announced Thursday a policy overhaul intended to double the money supply and achieve a 2 percent inflation target at the "earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years."