Gold futures pulled back on Thursday, ahead of the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s policy setting meeting on July 30-31 meeting which could provide further clues on the direction of monetary policy.
Gold for December delivery
was off $3.60, or 0.2%, at $1,512.10 an ounce, after gaining 0.3% on Tuesday; while September silver
shed 10.8 cents, or 0.6%, to trade at $17.04 an ounce, following a 1.2% jump in the previous session.
The Fed will publish the minutes of the July at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, a half hour after gold futures settle for the session. Investors are hoping for clues on how split the members of the Federal Open Market Committee were on last month’s decision to lower rates by a quarter percentage point, the first such move in more than decade. The minutes also come ahead of the Thursday start to the Fed’s annual symposium of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., which would could affirm market-based expectations for a rate cut at the end of the Fed’s next two-day policy meeting on Sept. 17-18.
“Expectations to this point seemed to be leaning dovish, which may be difficult for policy makers to live up to,” analysts at Zaner Metals wrote in a daily note.
Metals have benefited from their perception as safe haven assets, gaining altitude amid a flurry of worries about the health of the economy inside and outside of the U.S.
Technical analysts are anticipating that precious metals will retain their bullish tilt, despite edging lower Wednesday.
“The main trend remains bullish, with further rallies that seems likely in the medium term, while in the short term the scenario is lateral, with prices that could draw a lateral range between $1,475 and $1,530,” wrote Carlo Alberto De Casa, chief analyst at brokerage ActivTrades, in a Wednesday research note.
He said, however, that any moves “below or above these thresholds could trigger of a new directional movement.”
Among other metals traded on Comex, September copper
was little changed at $2.58 a pound, after shedding 0.9% on Wednesday. October platinum
tacked on $5.30, or 0.6%, to $858.10 an ounce, while September palladium
shed $9.40, or 0.6%, to $1,480.30, easing back after a 1% gain on Tuesday.
The SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund
traded down 0.3%, contributing to a 0.7% loss so far this week, while the iShares Silver Trust
lost 0.4% in Tuesday dealings to trade 0.2% lower week to date.
