Gold Futures Settle Higher For 3rd Straight Day

Gold futures settle modestly higher on Wednesday, extending gains to a third straight session, as the dollar exhibited some weakness despite paring most of its early losses.

The dollar index, which dropped to 103.00 in the Asian session, rallied to 103.49 in early New York session, before turning a bit easy again. The index was last seen at 103.33, down by about 0.1%.

Gold futures for April ended higher by $5.90 at $1,890.70 an ounce.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.243 at $22.420 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $4.0355 per pound, down $0.0450 from the previous close.

In a question-and-answer session at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the disinflationary process has begun but further hikes will be needed if the labor market remains strong.

Some analysts were expecting the Fed chief to push back on the loosening of financial conditions following Friday’s robust jobs report.

But New York Fed Chair John Williams did the pushback that everyone was expecting Powell to do. Williams reminded Wall Street that if financial conditions loosen, higher rates may be needed. Williams also reiterated that if the situation changes, they can move faster than 25 basis point moves.

Fed’s Cook also restated we are not done raising interest rates.

Gold futures pared some early gains after Williams and Cook supported the argument that the Fed has two more rate hikes in them and that rates may have to stay higher for some time.

Edward Moya of OANDA says gold will likely consolidate here until the inflation report due out next week.

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