Gold Price News: Gold Loses 3% Over Two Days As Interest Rate Cuts Fade

Gold prices fell sharply on Thursday, extending Wednesday’s hefty losses, as recent comments from US Fed officials triggered a dialling back of bets on the timing of interest rate cuts later this year.

Prices fell as low as $2,341 an ounce on Thursday, down sharply from around $2,381 an ounce in late deals on Wednesday.

The latest action means gold has lost around $80, or 3.3% of its value, in the space of two days.

Gold prices were already lower on Wednesday, but the losses were compounded by the release of minutes from the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday evening. US Fed officials’ comments this week suggested interest rates may need to stay higher for longer in a bid to bring inflation under control, and some even advocated a rate hike if necessary.

This appeared to spook the markets, with yields on US 10-year treasuries surging higher on Thursday, while the US dollar strengthened against other major currencies, both of which tend to be bearish for dollar-denominated gold prices.

In light of the latest macro figures, data from interest rate traders now points to a roughly even split on whether the US Fed will start to cut interest rates in September, with a greater weighting now on November as the start of a loosening of monetary policy.

Looking ahead, the markets will be watching out for Friday’s US durable goods orders for April as well as the Michigan consumer sentiment numbers for May for a fresh update on the US economy.