Gold Tops $4,500 Amid Tame US Inflation, Cooling Fed Hike Bets
Gold prices topped $4,500 in New York on Wednesday as tame US inflation data cooled bets of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike next month.
The Comex December gold contract reached its highest price since mid-June at $4,502.70 per ounce, with spot gold rising 1.6% to $4,438.20 and holding a 1.2% gain at $4,422.34 by early afternoon in New York.
The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.1% in July from the previous month and 3.4% from a year earlier, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The core measure that strips out food and energy rose 0.2% on the month and 2.5% on the year.
Interest-rate swaps still price a roughly 40% chance of a Fed hike in September, though the odds on an October move fell to about 60% from 75% a day earlier. Two-year Treasury yields fell three basis points to 4.18%, and the dollar was little changed.