Gold Down, Ahead of U.S. Inflation Data

© Reuters.

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Wednesday morning in Asia, hitting its lowest level since February 11, as investors eyed the rising dollar and inflation data.

Gold futures were down 0.22% to $1,836.96 by 11:06 PM ET (3:06 AM GMT).

The Dollar, which normally moves inversely to the gold, inched down on Wednesday morning, but the moves were small. The tightened policy to fight inflation from the U.S. Federal Reserve has fueled five weeks of gains for the dollar.

The Fed raised its interest rates to 1% last week. Fed officials on Tuesday reiterated their stance on the aggressive efforts to slow the fastest inflation in 40 years.

“I know that families all across America are hurting because of inflation,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a speech a day before the Consumer Price Index (CPI) came out.

“I want every American to know that I am taking inflation very seriously and it is my top domestic priority.”

As investors expect additional increases of the same magnitude from the Fed, they await the U.S. Core CPI, due later in the day, for more clues on the Fed’s monetary policies. The forecasts prepared by Investing.com expected the figure to moderate but stay above 8%.

In Asia Pacific, Australia’s consumer sentiment released on Wednesday fell 5.6% in May from April, according to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute index. Surging inflation and rising interest rates are weighing on household spending.

In other precious metals, silver dipped 0.1%. Platinum edged up 0.1%, while palladium fell 1.2%.