Gold prices fell on Tuesday to post their lowest settlement in nearly two weeks, but remained mired in a range between $1,800 and $1,880 since mid-May.
Price action
- August gold GCQ22, -0.21% GC00, -0.21% fell $3.60, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,821.20 per ounce on Comex, the lowest most-active contract finish since June 15, FactSet data show.
- July silver SIN22, -1.95% SI00, -1.95% lost 36 cents, or 1.7%, to $20.806 per ounce, the lowest since May 12.
- September palladium PAU22, +0.17% PA00, +0.17% rose $3, or 0.2%, to $1,861.90 an ounce.
- The most-active October platinum contract PLV22, +0.58% PL00, +0.58% rose $5.30, or 0.6%, to $905.60 an ounce.
- September copper HGU22, -0.07% settled at $3.78 a pound, up a penny, or 0.4%.
What analysts are saying
Prices for the precious metal had fallen toward session slows immediately after the release of U.S. consumer confidence data for June, before paring those losses. The data showed a drop in consumer confidence to a 16-month low of 98.7.
“Traders know that it is only a matter of time before the economic data officially confirms that the U.S. economy has fallen into a recession and that headline would spur more interest in a risk-off asset” such as gold, said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a note.
For now, Suki Cooper, executive director of precious metals research at Standard Chartered, said gold has been caught in a range as investors digest signs of slowing economic growth, rising inflation and the threat of more aggressive interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
“Gold has been caught within an increasingly narrower range as it toys between risk of faster rate hikes, and prolonged elevated inflation and slower growth,” Cooper said.
Outflows from gold and silver exchange-traded funds weighed on the precious metals complex, said commodities analysts at Commerzbank.
“Another sizeable outflow from ETFs presumably also put pressure on gold: holdings in the gold ETFs tracked by Bloomberg were reduced by a good 6 tons yesterday. The momentum of outflows has picked up pace again of late,” wrote Daniel Briesemann, a Commerzbank precious metals analyst.
Other markets
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose by a basis point to 3.20%.
- U.S. benchmark stock indexes were lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.41% down nearly 300 points.
- The U.S. dollar climbed DXY, +0.46% against a basket of its rivals.
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