Warsh's Rate Hike Hint Sinks Gold Prices by Over 1%
Gold prices suffered a decline of over 1% on Friday, August 28, following a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh. In his address at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming, Warsh hinted that the central bank may consider interest rate hikes to combat high inflation in the US.
The Fed chief acknowledged that inflation remains above the target of 2%, stating 'We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed. Otherwise, we have work to do.'
Warsh's comments sparked a downward revision in gold prices, which had reached a three-month high of $4,696.18 per ounce on Tuesday. Spot gold fell by 0.8% to $4,563.05 per ounce as of 1452 GMT.
The decline was also attributed to small revisions in US nonfarm payrolls data, which showed a slight fall in employment over the past year.