Gold edged up from 5-month lows on Friday as the U.S. dollar and bond yields slightly fell from highs, but bullion was set for its fourth consecutive weekly decline on concerns over the Federal Reserve’s higher-for-longer interest rate outlook.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold gained 0.2% to $1,892.70 per ounce by 0141 GMT, after touching its lowest since mid-March on Thursday. U.S. gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,923.20.
* Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell from their highest levels since October, while the dollar index dropped 0.3%, making non-yielding bullion less expensive for overseas buyers. [USD/] [US/]
* U.S. 30-year yields also hit 12-year highs on Thursday, as strong economic data raised investor expectations that the Fed will hold interest rates higher for longer.
* The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to continued tightness in the labor market even as job growth slows.
* Investors now await Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver a talk on the economic outlook on Aug. 25 at the central bankers’ confab held each year in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. * Japan’s core consumer inflation slowed in July but stayed above the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) price target for the 16th straight month.
* China Evergrande, which is the world’s most heavily indebted property developer and became the poster child for China’s property crisis, on Thursday filed for protection from creditors in a U.S. bankruptcy court.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.8% to 887.50 tonnes on Thursday, their lowest since January 2020. [GOL/ETF]
* Spot silver jumped 0.8% to $22.86 an ounce and platinum climbed 1% to $898.40. Palladium added 1.1% to $1,230.72.