Investing.com -- Gold closed virtually flat on Thursday, amid strong U.S. economic data and a slightly lower dollar, as investors await a highly-anticipated appearance from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen for further signals on whether the U.S. central bank could raise interest rates at a closely-watched meeting next month.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for June delivery traded between $1,218.50 and $1,234.00 an ounce before settling at $1,220.50, down $3.30 or 0.27% on the session. Gold suffered its seventh straight loss and eighth losing session over the last 10 trading days while remaining near 7-week lows. Since hitting 15-month highs around $1,300 an ounce at the start of May, gold has plunged more than 5% and $75 an ounce. Despite the recent downturn, the yellow metal is up by more than 13% since the start of the year and is on pace for one of its strongest first halves of a year in more than a decade.
Gold likely gained support at $1,209.20, the low from April 1 and was met with resistance at $1,304.40, the high from May 2.
On Thursday morning, the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 for the week ended on May 20 to 268,000, slightly below analysts' expectations of 275,000. At the same time, the four-week average ticked up by 3,000 to 278,500, reflecting three previous weeks of considerable gains. The rising four-week average could provide an ominous harbinger for the labor market heading into next week's critical May jobs' report, the last before the Federal Open Market Committee meets on June 14-June 15.
Yellen will make her first public appearance in nearly two months at a ceremony when she receives the Radcliffe Medal from Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study on Friday afternoon. Yellen could provide further hints on the pace of the Fed's long-term rate path in a Question-And-Answer session with Harvard economics professor Gregory Mankiw after the presentation. Over the last two months, Yellen has reiterated that the Fed will raise rates gradually in the current cycle, amid widespread volatility in global financial markets and persistently low inflation.
Two other Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policymakers, St. Louis Fed president James Bullard and Fed governor Jerome Powell, sent indications on Thursday that the Fed could raise rates shortly. The FOMC has left its benchmark Fed Funds Rate at a targeted range between 0.25 and 0.50% in each of its three meetings this year since its historic rate hike last December.
Any rate hikes by the Fed this year are viewed as bearish for gold, which struggles to compete with high-yield bearing assets in rising rate environments.
Elsewhere, durable goods orders surged 3.4% last month following upwardly revised figures in March, outperforming expectations of gains of 0.8%. Vehicle orders surged on the month, providing a boost to the headline reading as the aircraft component soared by 65%. Following the release, the Federal Bank of Atlanta said its GDP Now model sees the U.S. economy growing at a rate of 2.9% in the second quarter.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell more than 0.20% to an intraday low of 94.93. The index is down by more than 4% since early-December. Dollar-denominated commodities such as gold become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.
Silver for July delivery gained 0.046 or 0.28% to $16.300 an ounce.
Copper for July delivery surged 0.034 or 1.67% to $2.101 a pound