Gold prices declined on Friday, looking to erase what had been a gain for the week, even as signs of ebbing inflation in the U.S. and Europe, in particular, have helped boost precious metals prices this month on hopes central banks will moderate interest rate rises as a result.
Price action
-
Gold for August delivery
GC00,
-0.35% GCQ23,
-0.35%
declined by $8.80, or 0.4%, to trade at $1,962.10 an ounce on Comex, with trading below the week-ago finish of $1,964.40. -
Silver for September delivery
SI00,
-0.29% SIU23,
-0.29%
shed 13.2 cents, or 0.5%, to $24.83 per ounce. -
October platinum
PLV23,
+0.02%
rose $1, or 0.1%, to $965.10 per ounce, while September palladium
PAU23,
+0.21%
rose by $5.70, or 0.5%, to $1,281 per ounce. -
September copper
HGU23,
-0.53%
declined by 2 cents, or 0.5%, to $3.815 per pound.
Market drivers
Gold prices traded higher for the month, finding support since the release of the U.S. June inflation data earlier this month showing that consumer prices increased at the slowest pace since August 2021. That provided a sign that inflation is waning more quickly than Wall Street economists and perhaps even the Federal Reserve had expected.
For the month, prices based on the most-active contract have climbed about 1.6%, FactSet data show.
Next week, investors will learn more about how the latest data are impacting the Fed’s plans for raising interest rates when Chair Jerome Powell delivers his post-meeting press conference on Wednesday.
“Bullion bulls have leapt in July on hopes that the Fed’s next rate hike will be the last in this cycle,” said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Exinity Group. “If the Fed lends credence to market expectations for no further rate hikes after this month,” that may help bullion bulls reclaim the $2,000 handle on gold.
However, “if the Fed pours cold water on the notion that its rate hikes are coming to
an end, that could prompt bullion to unwind more of its recent gains and falter back into the lower-$1,900s,” he told MarketWatch.
Against that backdrop, the U.S. dollar was trading higher on Friday, adding to the pressure on gold. It was up 0.3% on the day at 101.17.
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