Gold settled at a 3-month low in anticipation of Powell’s speech

Gold hit a 3-month low on Wednesday, June 28, after strong U.S. economic data made gold a safe-haven asset as traders awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and other data for signs of raising interest rates.

Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1915.45 an ounce, near its lowest level since March 16 at $1910 an ounce, and US gold futures were at $1924.60 an ounce.

“Strong economic data (in the U.S.) boosted the dollar and brought gold to its lowest level in June last night,” said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at CitiIndex.

Data released on Tuesday indicated that the U.S. economy remains strong, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again to curb inflation.

According to the CME Group’s Feed Watch service, 77% of investors expect interest rates to be raised in July and remain low since March 2024, and most major U.S. banks expect to raise interest rates by 25 basis points.

On July 5, the Fed will release the minutes of its June 13 and 14 meetings, and the Federal Open Market Committee’s meetings on interest rates on the 25th and 26th of the same month.

Investors are eagerly awaiting the May PCE data, which will be released on Thursday, among other data, and Powell will speak before the monetary policy committee on Wednesday ahead of the ECB meeting.

As for other precious metals, silver rose 0.2% to $22.93 an ounce in spot transactions, platinum was down 0.9% to $916.83 an ounce and palladium was down 1.1% to $1281.48.