Gold prices eased Wednesday, at risk of logging a third straight decline, even as the dollar paused its latest run, which had landed the buck at levels last seen in December.
Inflation-wary financial markets could get fresh clues on the course of interest-rate hikes as the producer-price index for April is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by wholesale inventories numbers from March at 10 a.m.
June gold fell $1.20 to $1,312.30 an ounce. Prices are hovering just above the roughly two-month low grazed last week.
Gold demand was tempered by the apparent risk-on reaction, for now, to the Iran developments. A rally in oil prices helped lift U.S.-listed energy companies, which pushed stock-index futures higher. Initially on Tuesday, both West Texas Intermediate oil the U.S. benchmark, and Brent futures, the international benchmark, sold off after the Iran announcement. Trump said the U.S. intends to impose sanctions on Iran, curbing the country’s oil exports and tightening global oil supply.
Traders returned to the two benchmarks on Wednesday because fresh sanctions on Iran, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a major oil producer, could mean disruptions in Middle East oil output—a scenario that is bullish for oil prices.
In other metals trading, July silver rose 0.1% to $16.495 an ounce, while July copper changed hands at $3.0615 a pound, up nearly 0.1%. July platinum rose 0.3% to $914.40 an ounce, while June palladium added 0.3% to $966.60 an ounce.
In ETF action, the SPDR Gold Shares and the iShares Silver Trust both traded 0.2% lower, while the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners was down 0.5%.