Gold prices tepid as focus turns to US Fed in data-packed week

In trading that was slack due to the holidays, gold prices remained unchanged on Monday as investors anticipated comments from many US Federal Reserve officials during a week full of data.

As of 0523 GMT, spot gold continued to hold steady at $2,023.03 per ounce, fluctuating within a $5 range.

Additionally, US gold futures were stable at $2,037.10 per ounce.

“Gold is remarkably resilient, given we’ve seen almost 60 basis points of cuts (for 2024) come out of the market since the January high,” said Kyle Rodda, a financial market analyst at Capital.com.

“Positioning is neutral, and if the data deteriorates softening the dollar and deepening US rate cut bets, then gold will shine again. The big risk this week is consumer price index (CPI)-if that comes in hot, another test of $2,000/Oz level could be on the cards.”

Due to market holidays in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia, trade is anticipated to be light during Asian trading hours.

In the week ending February 6, COMEX gold speculators increased their net long position by 10,616 contracts to 82,591, according to data released on Friday.

In addition to watching for comments from Atlas 7 Fed members this week, market investors will be concentrating on US CPI data on Tuesday, retail sales data on Thursday, and product pricing index (PPI) data on Friday.

Before lowering rates, a number of Fed members, including Chairman Jerome Powell, stated last week that they needed more proof that inflation would continue to fall.

Traders have all but ruled out a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting in March, according to LSEG’s Interest Rate Probability app, IRPR. It shows around a 65% chance of a cut in the May meeting.

Spot platinum was steady at $871.87 per ounce, while palladium rose 0.7% to $865.13, and silver was up 0.5% at $22.71.