Gold prices slipped in the US on Thursday morning on the release of data that showed the country’s economy grew faster in the second quarter than previously estimated, spurring purchasing of the dollar.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division on the New York Mercantile Exchange was last down $3.50 or 0.3 percent at $1,121.10 per ounce. Prices were unchanged before the release of the US data.
The data included preliminary GDP quarter-over-quarter, which jumped 3.7 percent, beating the forecast of 3.2 percent and above the previous reading of 2.3 percent.
Additionally, the preliminary GDP price index quarter-over-quarter was at 2.1 percent, above the estimate of two percent, while weekly initial jobless claims stood at 271,000, below estimates of 275,000 and under the psychological 300,000 mark.
The dollar was 0.6 percent stronger at 1.1243 against the euro.
“Good GDP data and better initial jobless claims bode well… and should help restore some confidence” in the US economy, FastMarkets head of research William Adams said.
Second-quarter GDP readings and weekly unemployment claims are two of the key figures ahead of September’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
Now market participants will parse the language of various Fed officials during the multi-day Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming.
But Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen is not scheduled to attend, therefore making the US jobs report on September 7 the last major data release that will be factored into the central bank’s decision whether to raise interest rates or not.
Interest rates have been at near zero levels since December 2008 and the Fed has not increased rates in more than a decade.
The CME Group FedWatch – a tool to gauge market expectations of a rate rise – at 24 percent was unchanged from yesterday. The probability has fluctuated between zero and 50 percent the past month.
Turning to wider markets, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 were up 3.2 percent and 3.1 percent respectively.
In data already released in the eurozone, M3 money supply and private loans both came better than expected at 5.3 percent and 0.9 percent respectively but German import prices undershot at -0.7 percent.
US pending home sales and national gas storage numbers are slated for release later today.
As for the other precious metals, Comex silver for September delivery was last up 8.4 cents at $14.125 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $14.050 to $14.250.
Platinum for October delivery on the Nymex rose $11.80 to $992.0 per ounce, while the most-actively traded palladium contract was at $548.05, up $18.40.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)
The post Gold pressured lower by forecast-beating US economic growth appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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