Gold Futures Settle Slightly Lower Ahead Of Fed Minutes

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – Gold futures settled lower on Wednesday, but still managed to hold near record highs, as expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month, concerns about the outlook for global economic growth helped keep the yellow metal’s safe haven appeal intact.

A weak dollar helped limit gold’s downside. The dollar index was down 0.32% at 101.12 ahead of the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent monetary policy meeting.

Gold futures for August ended down $2.90 or about 0.12% at $2,508.40 an ounce.

Silver futures for August ended up $0.021 or 0.07% at $29.476 an ounce, while Copper futures for August advanced to $4.1840 per pound, gaining $0.0345.

Although there are expectations the Fed will cut interest rate next month, revised data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed job growth in the US was weaker than previously reported in the twelve months ended March 2024, has raised some concerns about growth.

The BLS said the US economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from March 2023 to March 2024 than initially reported, reflecting 0.5% weaker job growth.

The data showed a significant downward revision to job growth in the professional and business services sector, which added 358,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.

Investors looked ahead to the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting for more clarity about the US central bank’s interest rate moves.

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