Gold at 3-month high on no rate hike flag from Powell; MidEast risk stays
Investing.com — Gold kept its upward charge for a third day in a row Thursday as the dollar tumbled on the lack of any immediate support from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a rate in November, despite the continued threat of inflation.
The risk that war in the Middle East could get bigger, impacting more of the world economy, also drove more investors towards safe havens, propelling the yellow metal.
Gold’s most-active futures contract on New York’s Comex, December, settled up $12.20, or 0.6%, at $1,980.50 per ounce. With the three-day rally, December gold has gained more than 2% for the current week, adding to the prior week’s advance of more than 5%. At the time of writing, the benchmark gold futures contract showed a session peak of $1,990.20 — the highest a front-month contract on Comex had gotten to since mid-July.
The spot price of gold, more closely watched by some traders than futures, was at $1,977.20 by 15:30 ET (19:30 GMT), up $29.52, or 1.5%. The spot price, which reflects real-time trades in bullion, is up just over 2%, extending last week’s gain of almost 5.5%. Spot gold's session peak at the time of writing was $1,977.73, the highest since mid-July.
While gold was boosted by Powell’s comments that weighed on the dollar, support was also evident from the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict, said Ed Moya, analyst at online trading platform OANDA.
“Volatility in the region is mostly expected to remain elevated and that should keep gold’s trajectory heading towards the $2,000 level,” Moya added.
The dollar fell, making commodities denominated in the US currency more affordable to international buyers, after Powell failed to signal a hike for the Fed at its Nov. 2 rate decision.
“Inflation is still too
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