WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices settled slightly up on Wednesday even as the dollar climbed higher ahead of Federal Reserve's policy announcement, extending recent gains.
The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged. The focus is on the accompanying statement and economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 99% chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged today and a 92.1% percent chance rates will remains unchanged in May.
The outlook for June is more mixed, however, with the FedWatch Tool indicating a 59.8% chance of a quarter point rate cut and a 35.3% chance of an extended pause.
The dollar index, which surged to 104.15, retreated a bit, but at 103.92, was still up nearly 0.5% from the previous close.
Gold futures for April ended higher by $1.30 at $2,161.00 an ounce.
Silver futures for May ended down $0.031 at $25.104 an ounce, while Copper futures settled at $4.0515 per pound, down $0.0230.
A report from the Mortgage Bankers Association said mortgage applications in the U.S. saw a notable pullback in the week ended March 15th.
The MBA said the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.6% last week after surging by 7.1% in the previous week.
A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta showed a slight increase in firms' year-ahead inflation expectations in the month of March.
The Atlanta Fed's business inflation expectations survey found that year-ahead inflation expectations crept up to 2.4% in March after inching up to 2.3% in February.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
