After rising more than 1% during Wednesday’s trading session, gold retreated mid-European trading on Thursday, August 21, losing more than 50% of its gains the day before, as the US dollar stabilized and a wave of profit-taking gripped the yellow metal amid anticipation of Jerome Powell’s remarks at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium tomorrow, Friday. Gold is trading down about 0.55% at $3,328 per ounce, while silver is trading at $37.59 per ounce, down 0.56%.
The minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s previous meeting, released yesterday, Wednesday, showed Fed members’ concern about the risk of rising inflation, outweighing concerns about the state of the labor market. The majority of members generally expect inflation to rise in the short term due to tariffs, and it is still too early to make a decision on changing monetary policy. In a related development, a World Gold Council report showed that gold ETF inflows into India rose by Rs 12.6 billion in July, amid heightened uncertainty and geopolitical tensions. Gold imports rose by $4 billion, or 42-48 tons, after three months of declines.

Today’s session, markets are awaiting the services and manufacturing PMI figures, as well as the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index and weekly unemployment claims. Attention is also turning to Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell’s remarks on Friday at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming, which begins today. Markets are awaiting any indication from Powell regarding the future of monetary policy and the interest rate cuts, which markets are pricing in twice this year: in September by more than 85% and in December by more than 70%.

The US dollar index is trading at 98.14, little changed, down from its Asian session high of 98.33. Platinum, in turn, is trading at $1,321, down about 1.39%, while palladium is down about 1.43%, trading at $1,098.