WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Despite a firm U.S. dollar, gold futures settled higher on Thursday, gaining for a second straight session, amid optimism the Federal Reserve will likely lower interest rate once or twice this year.
The Bank of England today retained its key policy rate for the seventh straight session. Policymakers said they remained prepared to adjust monetary policy as warranted by economic data to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably.
The Swiss National Bank lowered its key policy rate by 25 basis points for the second consecutive meeting on Thursday, citing easing underlying inflationary pressures. The bank had unexpectedly reduced its rate by a quarter point at the March meeting and became the first major central bank to ease the policy in the current cycle.
The dollar gained in strength after data showed a drop in initial jobless claims in the U.S. The dollar index climbed to 105.61, gaining 0.34%.
Gold futures for June ended higher by $23.40 or about 1% at $2,353.80 an ounce, the highest close in about two weeks.
Silver futures for June settled at $30.776 an ounce, gaining $1.2710 or about 4.31%.
Copper futures climbed to $4.5630 per pound, gaining $0.0725 or about 1.6%.
Data from the Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims dipped to 238,000 in the week ended June 15th, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 243,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 235,000 from the 242,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Data from the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a steep drop in new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of May.
The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 5.5% to an annual rate of 1.277 million in May after surging by 4.1% to a revised rate of 1.352 million in April.
Economists had expected housing starts to climb by 0.7% to an annual rate of 1.370 million from the 1.360 million originally reported for the previous month.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected slowdown in the pace of growth by regional manufacturing activity in the month of June. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity fell to 1.3 in June from 4.5 in May.
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