Gold prices dropped Tuesday for a third day driven by U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell’s comments on “being prepared” to raise interest rates twice this year.
Speaking at an event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, Powell said rates could rice as early as September and once again in December, as long as the economy performs as expected.
Last week bullion prices showed encouraging signs of recovery after the Fed said the U.S. economy was growing “moderately” after a first-quarter stall, with a pickup in hiring, moderate growth in household spending and “some improvement” in the long-shaky housing market.
Prices rose Friday to the highest level in close to four weeks, trading at more than $1,203 per ounce.
Gold futures for August delivery declined 0.5% to $1,177.30 an ounce at 9:30 am ET, on the Comex in New York. Three days of losses would be the longest streak since June 5.
Comments
Eric Stevenson
Powell’s comments had no effect what so ever on the price of gold. The expiration of future contracts for July is what did that. Watch silver futures, the July contract expires shortly. TDAmeritrade sent out a warning to close out or they’d close it for you if weren’t out by June 26th. Its inevitable that gold and silver prices decline. But what you want to watch is the resistance at $1150 on gold and $15.50 on silver.