Gold edged lower Tuesday as Treasury yields rose and investors continued to fret over whether stubborn inflation around the world will push central banks to raise interest rates further.
Price action
-
Gold futures for August delivery
GC00,
-0.31% GCQ23,
-0.31%
fell by $10, or 0.5%, to close at $1,923.80 an ounce on Comex. -
July silver
SI00,
-0.67% SIN23,
-0.67%
rose 13.4 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $22.96 an ounce. -
Palladium for September delivery
PAU23,
+0.41%
declined $8.60, or 0.7%, to end at $1.294.10 an ounce, while October platinum
PLV23,
-0.53%
edged up $1.10, or 0.1%, to $934 an ounce. -
September copper
HG00,
-0.37% HGU23,
-0.37%
fell 1.6 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $3.7885 a pound.
Market drivers
Central bankers from Europe and the U.S. have lately reiterated the need to raise interest rates further to restrain inflation which has weighed on prices of gold and silver.
Rate hikes by several European central banks last week helped spur a selloff that eventually took gold and silver to their lowest levels since March on Monday.
While inflation in Europe and the U.S. has waned from last year’s peak, the pace of declines has stalled, prompting central banks including the Federal Reserve to telegraph plans for more rate hikes to try to bring price pressures to heel. That’s seen as bad for gold, since higher rates lift returns for investors buying bonds or keeping their money in cash, or a money-market fund.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
rose 4.8 basis points to 3.767% on Tuesday, within striking distance of its three-year high above 3.85% set on May 26, noted Robert Yawger, executive director for futures at Mizuho.
“The higher the yield on Treasuries, the more likely traders seeking safe haven financial instruments will choose interest-bearing products rather than plug their money into gold,” he said, in a note.
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