Gold Futures Settle Slightly Up As Data Shows Surprise Contraction In GDP

Gold prices moved in a tight band on Thursday before settling slightly up even as the dollar continued its move up north amid rising prospects of sharper interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Gold prices climbed higher after data showed a surprise contraction in the U.S. economy in the first quarter of 2022.

The dollar index spurted to 103.93 before easing to 103.63 on GDP data, but remained still up with a strong gain of 0.65%.

Gold futures for June ended higher by $2.60 or about 0.1% at $1,891.30 an ounce.

Silver futures for July ended down by $0.324 at $23.181 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $4.4335 per pound, down $0.0415 from the previous close.

A report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic activity unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter of 2022, with gross domestic product declining by 1.4%, after spiking by 6.9% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The pullback surprised economists, who had expected GDP to increase by 1.1%.

The Commerce Department said the unexpected drop in GDP reflected decreases in private inventory investment, exports, and government spending along with an increase in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP.

According to the report released by the Labor Department, first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower in the week ended April 23rd, dipping to 180,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 185,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 180,000 from the 184,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Source: Read Full Article