Gold prices advanced on Wednesday for the third straight session as the U.S. dollar softened and Treasury yields declined, helping to bolster the relative attractiveness of the yellow metal. Price action
Gold for April delivery
GC00,
+0.28%
GCJ23,
+0.28%
gained $10.60, or 0.6%, to $1,895 per ounce on Comex.
Silver for March delivery
SI00,
+1.10%
SIH23,
+1.10%
rose by 34 cents, or 1.5%, to $22.52 per ounce.
Palladium for March
PAH23,
+0.46%
rose $21.50, or 1.3%, to $1,663 per ounce, while platinum for April
PLJ23,
+0.04%
gained $8.90, or 0.9%, to $995 per ounce.
March copper
HGH23,
-0.06%
rose by 3 cents, or 0.7%, to $4.11 per pound.
Market drivers Precious metals analysts attributed gold’s latest bout of strength to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks during a question-and-answer session at the Economic Club of Washington D.C.
While Powell reiterated his view that the Fed is planning further interest-rate hikes, and that the central bank likely won’t start cutting rates until next year at the earliest, he also repeated his comments from last week that disinflation is now underway. While U.S. stocks swung between gains and losses during Powell’s remarks, they ultimately finished higher on Tuesday — a sign that investors viewed Powell’s comments as dovish. “The gold market seems to have an element of traders and investors hearing what they want to hear rather than what is actually said as despite the Fed Chair saying on Tuesday that further interest rate hikes are needed to fully curb inflation, his tone was interpreted as less aggressive than previous and therefore reason for gold to gain,” said Rupert Rowling, a market analyst at Kinesis Money.