Gold Rises as Traders Eye Trade Deal Progress, Fed Speeches

Investing.com – Gold prices rose on Friday and were on track for a weekly gain of 0.3% as traders kept an eye on trade talk developments between the U.S. and China.

Comex for April delivery jumped 0.3% to $1,331.55 an ounce as of 10:10 AM ET (15:10 GMT) after falling 1.5% on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at 2:30 PM ET (19:30 GMT) as the two countries rush to find a deal before the March 1 deadline when the U.S. would increase tariffs on Chinese goods to 25% from its current 10%.

While progress has been made, gaps still remain on key areas, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The price of bullion was also driven higher by a weaker dollar, which the precious metal is linked to. The , which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.05% to 96.41.

Meanwhile,investors are also looking ahead to speeches from Federal Reserve officials for clues on how long with central bank will pause interest rate hikes.

The Fed has paused its pace of rate hikes and may not run down its balance sheet by as much as first thought, minutes from the central bank showed on Wednesday.

Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is set to speak at 12:00 PM ET (17:00 GMT), while the Fed’s Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles speaks on the Fed’s balance sheet at 1:30 PM ET (18:30 GMT).

Higher rates are a negative for gold as the precious metal, which does not pay interest, struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when rates rise.

Other metals were higher on the Comex, with up 0.39% at $15.86 a troy ounce. Among other precious metals, increased 1.6% to $840.20, while rose 0.39% to $1,450.75 an ounce. futures gained 1.3% to $2.937 a pound.

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