WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled lower on Monday as bond yields moved up as investors eyed comments from Federal Reserve officials for clues about the central bank's likely monetary policy moves.
The dollar's weakness helped limit the yellow metal's downside. The dollar index dropped to 105.42, down from the previous close of 105.55.
Gold futures for June ended down by $19.00 or about 0.81% at $2,312.40 an ounce.
Silver futures for June ended lower by $0.077 or 0.26% at $29.325 an ounce. Copper futures were at $4.4435, down $0.0455 or about 1.01%.
On Sunday, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said that it's a 'reasonable prediction' that the U.S. central bank will cut interest rates once this year, waiting until December to do so.
While Federal Reserve officials forecast just one interest rate cut this year following last Wednesday's monetary policy meeting, traders remain hopeful the predictions will turn out to be overly conservative if inflation continues to slow in the coming months.
Reports on retail sales and industrial production, due this week, are likely to provide some clues about interest rates.
In economic releases today, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's report showed New York manufacturing activity contracted at a notably slower rate in the month of June.
The New York Fed said its general business conditions index climbed to a negative 6.0 in June from a negative 15.6 in May, although a negative reading still indicates contraction. Economists had expected the index to rise to a negative 9.0.
Despite the continued contraction in current activity, the New York Fed said optimism about the six-month outlook picked up to its highest level in more than two years.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
