WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled moderately up on Thursday, gaining for a second straight session, as the European Central Bank cut interest rate, a day after the Bank of Canada's rate cut move. It is widely expected that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rate in September.
The dollar's fall from higher levels contributed as well to the yellow metal's rise. The dollar index dropped to around 104.14, after having climbed to 104.37 earlier in the day.
Gold futures for June ended up by $16.20 or about 0.7% at $2,370.30 an ounce.
Silver futures for June ended higher by $1.299 or 4.3% at $31.247 an ounce, while Copper futures climbed to $4.6785, gaining 0.0725 or about 1.5%.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has cut interest rate for the first time since September 2019. The ECB today cut key interest rate by 25 basis points, and has raised inflation forecasts for 2024 and 2025.
The ECB has raised the headline inflation outlook for 2024 to 2.5% from 2.3% previously, and upped the forecast for 2025 to 2.2% from 2%.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended June 1st.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 229,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened significantly in the month of April, as the value of imports jumped by much more than the value of exports.
The Commerce Department said the trade deficit surged to $74.6 billion in April from a downwardly revised $68.6 billion in March.
Investors now look ahead to Friday's closely watched monthly jobs report from the U.S., which could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.
The Labor Department report is expected to show employment increased by 185,000 jobs in May after climbing by 175,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 3.9%.
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