Gold futures climbed on Wednesday while the U.S. dollar softened ahead of comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Price action
-
Gold prices for February delivery
GC00,
+1.67% GCG23,
+0.79%
rose $12.30, or 0.7%, to $1,776 per ounce on Comex. -
Silver prices for March delivery
SIH23,
+2.28%
rose 35 cents, or 1.6%, to $21.79 per ounce. -
January platinum
PLF23,
+3.22%
was up $22.70, or 2.2%, at $1,031 an ounce, while March palladium
PAH23,
+4.94%
climbed $56.10, or 3.1%, to $1,890 an ounce. -
Copper for March delivery
HGH23,
+2.83%
rose 9 cents, or 2.4%, to $3.743 per pound.
Market drivers
Prices of commodities including gold, copper and crude oil were higher early Wednesday as protests in China have prompted authorities there to ease some of their COVID-19 restrictions slightly, market strategists said.
There’s also hope that Powell’s commentary on Wednesday might support gold by hinting at a less aggressive pace of interest-rate hikes going forward.
“Traders and investors will be watching to see if Powell makes a pivot from a hawkish to a bit more dovish U.S. monetary policy stance, given recent U.S. economic data that hints inflation may have peaked,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.com.
Powell is scheduled to speak at the Brookings Institution at 1.30 p.m. Eastern.
Meanwhile, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
a measure of the currency’s strength against a basket of rivals, was down 0.3% at 106.47. A stronger dollar has often weighed on the price of gold this year, and vice versa, analysts said.
