Investing.com – Gold prices fell below the $1,300 level on Tuesday, hitting the lowest levels since December as the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields moved higher after slightly stronger than expected U.S. retail sales figures.
for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were down $23.80 or 1.81% to $1,294.40 a troy ounce by 09:26 AM ET (13:26 GMT), a level not seen since late December.
The yellow metal tumbled as the , which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.58% to 93.09, re-approaching last Wednesday’s four-and-a-half month highs of 93.26.
The reported that while retail sales rose in April the prior months figure was revised up to 0.8% from a previously reported 0.6%.
Core retail sales rose last month, but April’s figure was revised up to 0.4%, from 0.2% previously.
The report indicated that consumer spending is on track to rebound after a soft patch in the first quarter.
The data helped push U.S. Treasury yields higher, with the yield on hitting 3.047%, the most since early 2014 on rising inflation expectations.
Higher Treasury yields can spell weakness for gold which, like other commodities, offers no yield, while a stronger U.S. currency makes dollar denominated gold more expensive for overseas buyers.
In other metals trading, July were down 2.34% to $16.25 a troy ounce, while July shed 1.74% to trade at $899.00. July were off 1.39% at $3.050 a pound.
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Source: Investing.com
