Gold Slips Ahead of Warsh's Jackson Hole Speech
Gold prices fell on Friday as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium. Spot gold dropped 0.5% to $4,576.30 per ounce by 0157 GMT after hitting a more than three-month high earlier in the week.
The US Treasury announced support measures for long-duration bonds, which contributed to gold's initial surge. However, market participants are now looking at Warsh's speech as a potential catalyst for a further decline in gold prices.
Matt Simpson, senior analyst at StoneX, said that the case for Warsh to lean hawkish is greater than the case for him not to, which could lead to gold retreating from its cycle highs. Despite this, Simpson expects any dip to be viewed favorably by bulls who missed out on the first phase of the rally and are eager to reach $5,000.
The Fed's concerns about US inflation, as expressed by officials at Jackson Hole, weighed on gold prices. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index stood at 3.7% in the 12 months through July, further supporting the case for higher interest rates.