Gold trimmed gains made during a six-day winning streak as investors mulled Federal Reserve minutes that showed policy makers wanted a more solid economic recovery before setting a timeline for trimming bond purchases.
Notes from the Fed’s June meeting indicated officials weren’t ready to schedule the withdrawal of the bank’s massive bond-buying program, given uncertainties around the economic outlook. But they also acknowledged the need to plan for stimulus tapering.
While the report helped gold notch a close above $1,800 an ounce on Wednesday, the precious metal again retreated below that level on Thursday as the dollar strengthened. The minutes reiterated the possibility for stimulus to be pared back sooner than anticipated.
There was “no big surprise” in the Fed minutes and gold’s upward move wasn’t particularly strong, Huatai Futures wrote in a website note. Precious metals were going to stay volatile in the short term as investors weigh the path for U.S. monetary policy and inflation, the brokerage said.
