Warsh's Jackson Hole Speech Key for Gold Prices as Dollar Concerns Linger

Gold prices held steady on Thursday as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the annual Jackson Hole symposium. Spot gold was little changed at $4,590.21 per ounce by 1107 GMT, after settling 1.4% lower on Wednesday in its biggest one-day decline in a week.

According to Hamad Hussain, a climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics, investors are in a wait-and-see mode ahead of Warsh's speech. The recent rally in gold prices was driven by renewed dollar-debasement concerns following the U.S. Treasury's move last week to ramp up buybacks of older long-dated bonds.

Markets are looking out for remarks from Warsh at Jackson Hole, hoping he will use his debut speech to fully explain his roadmap for returning inflation to the Fed's target and what he sees as the bond market's role in that strategy. If Warsh delivers a repeat performance of his press conference following the most recent FOMC meeting, where his remarks were vague and arguably counterproductive, it could reignite fears surrounding debasement and support gold prices.