Gold Prices Stabilize Amid Softer Oil Prices, Cautious Fed Stance

Gold prices have stabilized at $4,363.52 after plummeting from its August highs near $4,700 per troy ounce.

The decline was largely attributed to a retracement in crude benchmarks WTI and Brent rather than shifts in the Fed, USD or Treasury yields.

Softer oil prices tempered inflation expectations, reinforcing the Fed's cautious stance on interest rates.

CFTC data for the week to 9/8 showed net speculative positioning rising to almost 232K contracts, while open interest slipped to around 411.2K contracts.

The CFTC data indicates that the recent bounce in gold prices was largely driven by short sellers rushing to cover their positions rather than fresh bullish buyers entering the market.