Gold Futures Settle Lower For 5th Straight Session

Gold prices drifted lower on Wednesday, extending losses to a fifth straight session as the dollar strengthened against most of its peers.

However, with global stocks failing sharply due to worries about rising coronavirus cases and tighter lockdown restrictions in several places around the world, gold’s decline was somewhat limited.

The dollar moved higher as investors waited for comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

U.S. stimulus talks also remained in focus after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will move forward on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan without Republican support if necessary.

The dollar index rose to 90.88 around mid-morning but subsequently pared a substantial portion of its gains. It was last seen at 90.52. up nearly 0.4% from the previous close.

Gold futures for February ended down $6.00 or about 0.3% at $1,844.90 an ounce, well off the session’s low of $1,828.40 an ounce.

Silver futures for March ended lower by $0.149 at $25.389 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.5575 per pound, down $0.0620 from the previous close.

A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods rose by much less than expected in the month of December.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders edged up by 0.2% in December after surging by an upwardly revised 1.2% in November.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to increase by 0.9% compared to the 1% jump that had been reported for the previous month.

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