WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled lower on Tuesday, posting their second loss in three sessions, as investors looked ahead to U.S. jobs data, due later in the week, for more clues about the outlook for Fed interest rates.
A subdued dollar amid prospects of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, helped limit the yellow metal's decline.
Gold futures for June ended down by $21.10 or about 0.9% at $2,235.50 an ounce.
Silver futures for June settled lower by $1.153 or about 3.76% at $29.488 an ounce, the biggest single session loss in dollar as well as percentage terms, in six weeks.
Copper futures dropped to around $4.5330 per pound, down $1.1345 or nearly 3%, from the previous close.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada, scheduled to announce their rate decisions this week, are expected to cut rates by a quarter percentage point.
A report released by the Labor Department today showed job opening in the U.S. saw a modest decrease in the month of April, falling to 8.059 million from a downwardly revised 8.355 million in March.
Economists had expected job openings to dip to 8.340 million from the 8.488 million originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said both the number of hires and total separations were little changed at 5.6 million and 5.4 million, respectively.
A report released by the Commerce Department showed factory orders climbed by 0.7% in April compared to economist estimates for an increase of 0.6%. However, the report also showed the jump in factory orders in March was downwardly revised to 0.7% from the previously reported 1.6%.
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