WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled higher on Wednesday as the dollar eased ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.
Traders weighed the odds of a super-sized Federal Reserve interest rate cut later in the day despite U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rising in August in a sign of ongoing consumer resilience.
The dollar, which dropped to 100.70 in the European session, recovered a bit but fell to around 100.75 in early New York session before edging up to 100.85, just marginally down from the previous close.
Gold futures for September ended up $0.25% at $2,570.70 an ounce.
Silver futures for September ended down $0.278 or about 0.91% at $30.341 an ounce, while Copper futures for September climbed to $4.2325 per pound, gaining $0.0190.
Eurozone inflation fell to 2.2% annually in August from 2.6% in July, in line with expectations.
U.K. inflation held steady at an annual rate of 2.2% in August, but price growth in the services sector picked up, cementing expectations that the Bank of England will pause interest rate cuts. Services inflation rose to 5.6% from 5.2%.
Geopolitical tensions also remained on investors' radar, with Hezbollah vowing to respond to an Israeli attack that killed multiple people and injured thousands across Lebanon.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department said housing starts spiked by 9.6% to an annual rate of 1.356 million in August after plunging by 3.9% to a revised rate of 1.237 million in July.
Economists had expected housing starts to surge by 5.8% to an annual rate of 1.310 million from the 1.238 million originally reported for the previous month.
The Commerce Department said building permits also shot up by 4.9% to an annual rate of 1.475 million in August after tumbling by 3.3% to a revised rate of 1.406 million in July.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to jump by 1% to an annual rate of 1.410 million from the 1.396 million originally reported for the previous month.
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