Gold Pulls Back From 6-Week Highs Ahead of Powell Hearing

Investing.com – Gold prices drifted lower on Tuesday, pulling back from the prior session’s six-week high as investors awaited comments from the next head of the Federal Reserve for fresh clues on the likely trajectory of monetary policy.

Comex dipped $2.00, or about 0.2%, to $1,292.80 a troy ounce by 3:30AM ET (0830GMT). It touched its best level since Oct. 16 at $1,299.00 in the last session.

Gold , finding some support from recent weakness in a benchmark .

, selected by President Donald Trump as the next Fed chair, appears before the Senate Banking Committee at 9:45AM ET (1445GMT) Tuesday for his confirmation hearing, which should provide some insight into how he plans to lead the Fed.

Powell is widely expected to sound close to outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen on monetary policy, but perhaps looser when it comes to banking regulation.

The U.S. central bank is scheduled to hold its final policy meeting of the year on Dec. 12-13, with interest rate futures pricing in a 100% chance of a rate hike at that meeting, according to Investing.com’s .

However, markets appeared doubtful over the central bank’s ability to raise rates as much as it would like next year due to concern over the sluggish inflation outlook.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.

Meanwhile, stayed on the agenda. President Donald Trump will meet with Senate Republicans on Tuesday to discuss their party’s efforts to pass tax reform legislation, with a vote on their bill coming as soon as Thursday.

If the Senate bill is passed, joint legislation with the House, which passed its own version on Nov. 16, will have to be created.

In other metals trading, lost 5.0 cents, or 0.3%, to $16.97 a troy ounce, fell 0.1% to $949.75, while shed 0.4% at $996.83 an ounce.

Meanwhile, slipped 4.2 cents, or 1.4%, to $3.115 a pound.

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