Gold prices were on the back foot on Tuesday, as market players turned their attention to a panel discussion including the heads of the European, U.S., British and Japanese central banks for further hints on future monetary policy moves.
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, outgoing U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Bank of England head Mark Carney and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kurodawill form an all-star panel on Tuesday at an ECB-hosted conference in Frankfurt.
The panel discussion, titled “At the heart of policy: challenges and opportunities of central bank communication”, is set to start at around 5:00AM ET (1000GMT).
Curve-flattening on both sides of the Atlantic, but more markedly in the United States, suggests investors have doubts over the future path of inflation and may be starting to price in a downturn just as the global economy picks up speed.
Comex gold futures lost around $7.00, or about 0.6%, to $1,271.74 a troy ounce by 3:10AM ET (0810GMT), after touching its lowest since Nov. 6 at $1,270.59 earlier.
Prices of the yellow metal ended modestly higher Monday as investors retreated somewhat from purchasing assets perceived as risky amid uncertainty over the outlook for tax reforms in the United States.
Among other precious metals, silver futures slumped 13.3 cents, or 0.8%, to $16.91 a troy ounce, platinum fell 0.5% to $931.10, while palladium gained 0.3% to $993.12 an ounce.
Meanwhile, copper futures slipped 0.8 cents, or 0.3%, to $3.108 a pound after data showed that China’s economy cooled further last month, with industrial output, fixed asset investment and retail sales missing expectations as the government extended a crackdown on debt risks and factory pollution.
Industrial output rose 6.2% year-on-year in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, missing analysts’ estimates of a 6.3% gain and lagging a 6.6% increase in September.
Fixed-asset investment growth also slowed to 7.3% in the January-October period, from 7.5% in the first nine months. Analysts had expected an increase of 7.4%.
China is the world’s top user of the red metal.
