Gold ticks up as dollar softens, yields fall
Gold prices edged higher on Thursday, helped by a softer U.S. dollar and lower Treasury yields, but hovered near five-week lows as investors tempered rate-cut optimism after hawkish comments from central bank officials and robust data.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,010.59 per ounce by 0121 GMT, a day after it fell to $2,001.72 — its lowest since Dec. 13.
* U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $2,012.40.
* The U.S. dollar fell 0.2%, making greenback-priced gold less expensive for foreign currency holders. Yields on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury notes also dropped.
* U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in December, keeping the economy on solid ground heading into the new year.
* Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is expected to speak at two separate events later in the day.
* Bostic said inflation could «see-saw» if policymakers cut rates too soon, warning that inflation's descent towards the central bank's 2% goal was likely to slow in the months ahead, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
* Money markets were betting on 142 basis points of Fed rate cuts this year, while pricing in a 61% chance of a March easing, according to LSEG's interest rate probability app, IRPR.
* Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding bullion.
* Britain's annual rate of consumer price inflation sped up for the first time in 10 months in December.
* Market participants also monitored developments in the Middle East as Israel pressed its assault on southern Gaza.
* The United States conducted another round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen after militants claimed their second attack this week on a U.S. operated vessel in the Red Sea region.
* Spot silver rose 0.4% to
