WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled lower on Thursday, losing ground for a second straight day, despite having moved higher early on in the session amid hopes the Fed will start reducing interest rates in September.
Gold turned weak as the dollar climbed higher after a subdued spell. The dollar index advanced to 104.05, gaining about 0.3%.
Gold futures for July ended down $3.00 or about 0.12% at $2,451.80 an ounce, coming off a high of 2,478.50 an ounce it had touched during the Asian session.
Silver futures for July settled at $29.995 an ounce, losing $0.142 or about 0.47%. Copper futures for September dropped to $4.2810 per pound, down $0.1279 or 2.89%.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Wednesday that a rate cut is imminent.
Earlier in the week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell had stated that June's lower-than-expected inflation boosted confidence in meeting the price growth target. Powell also emphasized the central bank's readiness to cut rates before inflation reaches 2%.
In economic news today, a report from the Labor Department said initial jobless claims in the U.S. rose to 243,000 in the week ended July 13th, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000.
Economists had expected initial jobless claims to edge up to 230,000 from the 222,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released a separate report showing the pace of growth reaccelerated by much more than expected in the month of July.
The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity jumped to 13.9 in July from 1.3 in June, with a positive reading indicating growth. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 2.9.
The Conference Board said in its report that the leading economic index edged down by 0.2% in June after falling by a revised 0.4% in May.
Economists had expected the leading economic index to dip by 0.3% compared to the 0.5% decline originally reported for the previous month.
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