(Bloomberg) -- Gold rebounded above $2,500 an ounce, ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that may provide fresh clues on the central bank’s monetary-policy path.
Bullion rose 0.7%, paring Thursday’s decline of 1.1% as traders worried they had overplayed prospects for aggressive Fed easing before the end of the year.
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Swaps pricing shows that traders are unsure whether to expect three or four 25-basis-point cuts across the remaining Fed policy meetings this year.
Powell’s address later Friday at the annual Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming could shed further light on the rate-cut trajectory, with lower rates generally positive for non-interest bearing bullion.
Gold has been trading in a relatively narrow range this week, after reaching a fresh all-time high on Tuesday.
The precious metal is up more than 21% in 2024, with support from large central bank purchases, as well as haven demand due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. There’s also been healthy buying of physical bars in the over-the-counter market.
Spot gold was up 0.7% at $2,501.22 an ounce as of 10:29 a.m. in London, slightly down on the week. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index edged lower after 0.4% gain on Thursday. Silver, platinum and palladium all rose.
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