Gold and silver weakened on Monday as investors bid up the U.S. dollar in anticipation of a September inflation report due out later in the week.
Price action
- Gold for December delivery GCZ22, -2.00% fell $25.30, or 1.5%, to $1,684 per ounce on Comex.
- December silver SIZ22, -3.31% shed 40 cents, or 2%, to $19.86 per ounce.
- Palladium futures PAZ22, +1.70% expiring in December climbed $56, or 2.6%, to $2,247.50 per ounce, while January platinum PLZ22, +0.47% was down $4.90, or 0.5%, to $913 per ounce.
- December copper futures HGZ22, +1.83% gained 6 cents, or 1.7%, to $3.44 per pound.
What analysts are saying
Prices of gold and silver are moving lower yet again as precious-metals traders anticipate that the U.S. inflation data set for release on Thursday could increase the pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue hiking interest rates aggressively — potentially delivering another 75 basis point rate hike at the central bank’s November meeting.
“The broader outlook for gold remains one where central banks across the world look set on a course of a series of interest rate hikes to try and bring stubbornly high inflation back down towards their target figures,” said Rupert Rowling, a market analyst at Kinesis Metals, in a note to clients.
“The impact of these ever increasing rates has been to make gold a less desirable commodity to hold with its lack of yield making other interest-paying assets such as bonds more attractive in its place.”
The consumer-price index for September is due out on Thursday. Economists polled by FactSet expect the annualized inflation rate will slow to 8.1% from 8.3% last month, while the month-over-month rate is expected to accelerate to 0.2% from 0.1% in August.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.33%, a gauge of the dollar’s strength against a basket of rivals, rose 0.3% to 113.10.
The Treasury market was closed for Columbus Day, a federal holiday that also has been recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.