By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Another day and another range-bound session in gold that barely made a difference to the story of the safe-haven.
Gold settled unsurprisingly lower ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve’s rate decision after moving mostly in a $1,760 to $1,775 band.
Weighing somewhat on the yellow metal was the rise in the yield of the U.S. 10-year Treasury note to back above 1.65%, after a struggle through last week at the 1.55% levels. The yield rose as bonds started selling off again after a spike in US consumer confidence, which hit 14-month highs in April.
“More vaccinations and additional fiscal stimulus lifted morale,” weakening the need for safe-havens such as gold, said Sophie Griffiths, head of U.K. and EMEA research at online trading platform OANDA. “Consumers are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, laying the groundwork for a strong consumer-based economic recovery.”
Benchmark gold futures on New York’s Comex were down $6.25, or 0.4%, at $1,772.55 an ounce by 1:43 PM ET (17:43 GMT).
The Fed’s latest decision on U.S. interest rates will be known at 2:00 PM, ahead of Chairman Jay Powell’s news conference beginning at 2:30 PM. Neither is unexpected to move the earth, with the central bank almost certain to keep rates unchanged near zero and Powell likely to stick to his inflation-is-transitory-for-now theme.