Gold steadies at settlement with US inflation data in focus

Gold prices held ground at settlement today, Aug. 10, although the US dollar weakened as market forecasts grew for an end to the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening cycle amid cooler inflation rates.

Bullion for August delivery stabilized at $1,914.40 an ounce, after rising in early trading to $1,927.80 per ounce, prompted by a pullback in the US dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six major currencies.

Today’s US inflation data showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) accelerated 3.2% for the year through July, up from June’s 3% annual increase, compared to expectations of 3.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Core CPI, which excludes the more volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.2% from June and was up 4.7% in July from the year-ago period, against forecasts for growth at a 4.8% clip.

Most traders (or 90.5%) expect the US central banks to keep interest rates unchanged at the September monetary policy meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

A separate report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today indicated that the number of jobless claims rose by 21,000 applications during the week ended Aug. 5, bringing the seasonally adjusted total to 248,000.

Elsewhere, used car prices in America fell by 1.3% over the past month and health care costs shed 0.4%, while the real wage index gained 0.3% on a monthly basis.