Gold prices rose to another record high after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled policymakers would wait for clearer signs of lower inflation before cutting interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Powell said recent inflation figures \u2014 though higher than expected \u2014 didn\u2019t \u201cmaterially change\u201d the overall picture, according to the text of a speech at Stanford University in California. He reiterated his expectation that it will likely be appropriate to begin lowering rates \u201cat some point this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treasury yields and the dollar pushed lower, boosting bullion by as much as 0.6% to a new all-time high of $2,295.25 an ounce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US gold futures, meanwhile, crossed the $2,300 mark, up 1.4% at $2,313.60 per ounce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Powell reiterated the Fed\u2019s wait-and-see approach before lowering borrowing costs, the US central bank\u2019s path to cut rates is unchanged despite recent inflation figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s \u201cvery gold positive as it suggests that the Fed will cut significantly before the inflation target is reached,\u201d said Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, in a Bloomberg <\/em>note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investors are still expecting a first rate cut at the Fed\u2019s June 11-12 policy meeting, even as the stronger recent economic data has sown investor doubts about that outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US jobs report for March is due to be released on Friday, with new inflation data coming next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A pair of Federal Reserve policymakers said on Tuesday they think it would be \u201creasonable\u201d for the US central bank to cut interest rates three times this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe likelihood of rate cuts is still there, but the data is still really strong. This is an election year, so I don\u2019t think the Fed will want to be held accountable for any kind of market crash,\u201d Daniel Pavilonis, senior market strategist at RJO Futures, told Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold, a hedge against inflation and a safe haven during times of political and economic uncertainty, has climbed over 11% so far this year, helped by strong central bank buying and safe-haven demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the metal\u2019s scorching rally, gold\u2019s biggest producers remain somewhat muted in recent trading sessions. Newmont, for example, edged only 0.6% higher by midday Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gold prices rose to another record high after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled policymakers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[901,523,695,665],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economictimes.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}