Gold Futures Settle Flat

Gold futures settled flat on Wednesday, as global stocks surged higher with investors reacting to some positive earnings updates and data showing a significant improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in December.

Firm U.S. dollar and Japanese Yen weighed as well on gold prices.

The Japanese currency held its recent gains after the Bank of Japan said it would review its yield curve control policy and widened its target band for interest rates – a move that analysts said would allow long-term interest rates to rise more.

The dollar index climbed to 104.38, gaining nearly 0.4%.

Gold futures rose to $1,833.80 around mid morning, but pared gains and dropped to close flat at $1,825.40 an ounce.

Silver futures for March ended down $0.077 at $24.194 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.8100 per pound, gaining $0.0110.

A report from the Conference Board showed the consumer confidence index spiked to 108.3 in December from an upwardly revised 101.4 in November. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 101.0 from the 100.2 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected surge, the consumer confidence index reached its highest level since April 2022.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing existing home sales dove by 7.7% to an annual rate of 4.09 million in November after plunging by 5.9% to a rate of 4.43 million in October. Economists had expected existing home sales to tumble by 5.2% to a rate of 4.20 million.

Existing home sales decreased for the tenth consecutive month and are down by 35.4% compared to the same month a year ago.

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