Gold is slightly cheaper, departing from the nearly 3-week high as the dollar rebounded from session lows. However, the uncertainty regarding the timing of interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve limited the fall.
Market participants also continue to evaluate Friday’s data on US GDP. Recall, the Department of Commerce reported that annualized GDP grew by 1.2 percent in the 2nd quarter. Economists had expected an increase of 2.6 percent. In general, a weaker-than-expected economic growth calls into question the possibility of a rate hike before the end of the year. Precious metals are sensitive to higher rates in the United States, but a gradual increase in prices carries less of a threat to gold, than a series of sharp hikes.
Oficials of the US Federal Reserve policy expressed different views regarding the rate increase: Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan has called for caution, while the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco John Williams said the Fed could raise rates up to two times by the end of this year.
This week markets will be closely watching the US data, particularly the monthly report of NFP. “If the labor market statistics will be weak, investors will fundamentally change their expectations about the US economic outlook and if it will be relatively good, it can compensate for the negative GDP data.” – Jiang Shu analyst at Shandong Gold Group.
The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX fell to $ 1348.70 per ounce.
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