Gold prices were lingering above the previous settlement as market participants prepare to glean any new information from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) July meeting minutes.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was last up $2.80 or 0.3 percent to $1,119.70 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,115.50 to $1,124.30.
Today’s release of the FOMC minutes – a detailed account of the discussions from the previous month’s meeting – is one of the last key dates before the members approach a decision on a normalisation of interest rates.
Over the last few months, various members of the organisation have become increasingly hawkish with Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen expressing a desire to raise rates sometime this year.
September is seen as a likely launch-point for the FOMC despite inflation lagging behind the Fed’s target rate of two percent.
“The uncertainty as to when the first Fed interest rate hike might happen is currently arguing against significantly higher prices.” Commerzbank said. “If the market prices in a higher probability as a result, the gold price could come under renewed pressure, though the kind of sharp price fall seen in July is no longer likely given the now better market sentiment and buying which would then be expected.”
Currently, the probability of rate hike stands at 36 percent, according to the CME Group Fedwatch – a tool to gauge the market’s view on the likelihood of a change in US monetary policy.
In data today, EU current account in June was 25.4 billion, above the consensus of 19.2 billion. While in the US, CPI and CORE CPI month-over-month in July were up 0.1 percent, both below the forecast of 0.2 percent.
Besides the FOMC meeting minutes, crude oil inventories in the US are slated for release later today.
Turning to wider markets, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 were down 1.3 percent and 0.9 percent respectively, while the euro was 0.1 percent stronger at $1.1037 against the dollar.
As for the other precious metals, Comex silver for September delivery was last up 11.5 cents at $14.905 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $14.795 to $14.975.
Platinum for October delivery on the Nymex rose 90 cents to $995.0 per ounce, while the most-actively traded palladium contract was at $596.65 per ounce, up 35 cents.
(Editing by Tom Jennemannx)
The post Gold trends upward, investors eye FOMC minutes appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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