2024.01.0918:25:00UTC+00Gold Futures Fail To Hold Early Gains, Settle Slightly Lower

Gold futures failed to hold early gains and settled slightly down on Tuesday as the dollar firmed against its peers with investors awaiting U.S. inflation data for clues about interest-rate moves by the Federal Reserve.

The dollar index climbed to 102.66 around late morning, but eased a bit subsequently to 102.55, still remaining in positive territory, gaining about 0.33%.

Gold futures for February ended down $0.50 at $2,033.00 an ounce, coming off the day's high of $2,048.60 an ounce.

Silver futures for March ended lower by $0.219 at $23.091 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.7585 per pound, down $0.0515 from the previous close.

A New York Federal Reserve report revealed on Monday that consumers expect lower inflation as well as weaker income and spending over the next several years.

Data on U.S. consumer inflation and producer price inflation are due on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged later this month, traders have recently become increasingly skeptical about whether the central bank will cut rates in March.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool still indicates a 60.9% chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in March, but that figure is well below recent highs.

In economic news today, a report released by the Commerce Department showed the trade deficit narrowed to $63.2 billion in November from a revised $64.5 billion in October. Economists had expected the trade deficit to widen to $65.0 billion from the $64.3 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpectedly smaller trade deficit came as the value of imports tumbled by 1.9 percent to $316.9 billion, while the value of export slumped by 1.9 percent to $253.7 billion.