Gold Futures Settle Slightly Higher Ahead Of Fed Rate Decision

Gold prices edged up slightly on Wednesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement.

The dollar index, which climbed to 107.43 a little past noon, pared some gains subsequently and was hovering around 107.20 a little while ago, netting a small gain.

Gold futures for August ended higher by $1.40 at $1,719.10 an ounce.

Silver futures for September closed higher by $0.065 at $18.600 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $3.4300 per pound, gaining $0.0455.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points. The FOMC statement and accompanying press conference by Fed Chair Jerome Powell will take center stage as bond markets and most economic indicators signal an increased likelihood of recession.

In economic releases today, the Commerce Department said durable goods orders jumped by 1.9% in June after climbing by 0.8% in May. The continued increase surprised economists, who had expected durable goods orders to dip by 0.4%.

Excluding a spike in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.3% in June following a 0.5% increase in May. Economists had expected ex-transportation orders to edge up by 0.2%.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed pending home sales in the U.S. pulled back sharply in the month of June.

NAR said its pending home sales index plunged by 8.6% to 91.0 in June after rising by 0.4% to a revised 99.6 in May. Economists had expected pending home sales to slump by 1.5% compared to the 0.7% increase originally reported for the previous month.

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