Gold Steadies as Dollar Climbs on Rising Bets of Fed Rate Hold

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Gold steadied after earlier gains as the dollar moved higher, with traders boosting wagers that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady next month.

A gauge of the dollar’s strength jumped the most after swap traders now priced out a rate cut in December. The bet came after the government canceled the publication of the October employment report, leaving Fed officials without a key piece of economic data before their final meeting of the year. Bullion typically underperforms in a higher rate environment.

Meanwhile, US stocks gave up some of their early gains ahead of earnings from artificial-intelligence bellwether Nvidia Corp. later Wednesday. Investors remained concerned about valuations of stocks linked to the AI boom in the US.

Gold has correlated with equities lately, especially AI and technology stocks such as the so-called Magnificent 7, according to Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at MKS Pamp SA. Shiels said weekly correlations between bullion and those equities reached 0.9, which is close to a perfect linear relationship.

Traders are also awaiting a slew of economic data that’s due Thursday after the US government reopened last week.

Gold has gained around 55% this year, and is still on track for its best year since 1979 despite pulling back from a record high last month. It’s been supported by elevated central-bank buying and a rush by investors to hedge against risk from sovereign debt and currencies.

Gold was up 0.2% at $4,074.55 an ounce as of 4:24 p.m. in New York after earlier jumping as much as 1.6%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.5%. Silver and platinum increased, while palladium slipped.

 Courtesy: www.cnbc.com