Gold Price News: Gold Pulls Back from All-Time High

Gold prices eased back on Friday, having set a fresh all-time high the previous day.

The price had looked reasonably well supported at around $2,660 to $2,670 an ounce for most of the day Friday, although the market softened later in the session to fall as low as $2,644 an ounce. That compared with Thursday’s all-time high of $2,686 an ounce.

Gold’s modest pull-back on Friday may have been a natural response to Thursday’s advance into new territory and may reflect a degree of profit-taking going into the weekend.

US PCE price index figures were released Friday showing that the value in August rose by less than the market had expected. The PCE numbers are the US Fed’s preferred way to measure underlying inflation. In addition, US personal income and personal spending for August came in weaker than expected. Taken together, the latest figures add weight to the prospects of further interest rate cuts by the US Fed.

Data from interest rate traders suggests the markets have begun to favour another 50-basis point cut at the Fed’s next meeting on November 7, albeit with only a slim majority, compared with a roughly 50-50 split only a few days ago on whether the next cut would by 25 or 50 basis points, according to the CME FedWatch tool: CME FedWatch – CME Group.

Looking ahead, the markets will be watching out for a speech on Monday by US Fed chair Jerome Powell, followed by Tuesday’s speech by ECB president Christine Lagarde and monthly US ISM Manufacturing PMI figures and the US JOLTS job openings numbers.