Investing.com -- The spot price of gold fell back on Wednesday to under the key $1,900 level critical to those long on the yellow metal as the dollar pressed forth its rebound from 15-month lows.
Gold futures’ most-active December contract on New York’s Comex settled at $1,928.30 per ounce, down $6.90, or 0.4%, on the day.
But spot gold, which tracks real-time physical dealings in bullion and is more closely followed than futures by some gold traders, was below the $1,900 in Wednesday’s late afternoon trade in New York. By 15:30 ET (19:30 GMT), spot gold was at $1,894.49, down $7.27, or 0.2%.
“Gold’s bearish channel remains intact with the $1900 level remaining a key barrier,” said Ed Moya, analyst at online trading platform OANDA. “If dollar strength remains, gold’s bearish slide may extend towards the $1,882 level.”
The Dollar Index, which pits the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit a near three-month high at 103.412, after plumbing to 99.22 last month — its lowest since April 2022.
U.S. retail sales data released on Tuesday showed that consumer spending remained robust in the country, potentially indicating more inflationary pressures in the coming months.
U.S. rate outlook pressures gold
The dollar was also boosted by the Federal Reserve’s latest take on inflation and interest rates.
Federal Reserve officials expressed concern at their most recent meeting about the pace of inflation and said more rate hikes could be necessary in the future unless conditions change, minutes released Wednesday from the session indicated.
That discussion during a two-day July meeting resulted in a quarter percentage point rate hike that markets generally expect to be the last one of this cycle.
“With inflation still well above the Committee’s longer-run goal and the labor market remaining tight, most participants continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy,” the meeting summary stated.