Gold slips as investors turn cautious ahead of Fed meeting

Gold dipped on Thursday as investors booked profits and turned cautious ahead of next week’s U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, awaiting data for clearer cues on the central bank’s interest rate outlook.

Spot gold slipped 0.5% at $4,179.71 per ounce, as of 0617 GMT. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were down 0.5% at $4,210.20 per ounce.

“With investors a bit cautious ahead of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting, the market is largely pricing that the Fed will cut by 25 basis points… What the market needs now is a fresh trigger for (gold) prices to move higher,” ANZ commodity strategist Soni Kumari said.

Kumari flagged ongoing profit-taking and said any slide toward $4,000 would likely attract new buyers, given gold’s strong fundamental backing.

U.S. private payrolls dropped by 32,000 in November, the sharpest fall in more than two and a half years, according to the ADP employment report on Wednesday, though still-low layoffs suggest the weakness may not reflect the true health of the labor market.

Markets now assign an 89% chance of a rate cut next week, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool, while major brokerages also expect easing at the December 9–10 meeting.

Lower interest rates tend to favour non-yielding assets such as gold.

Focus is now on U.S. weekly jobless claims data later in the day and delayed September Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, due Friday.

Meanwhile, silver fell 2.1% to $57.22 after touching a record high of $58.98 on Wednesday.

Silver has risen 101% so far this year due to concerns about market liquidity after outflows to U.S. stocks, its inclusion in the U.S. critical minerals list and a structural supply deficit.

“Since mid-November, Shanghai silver inventories have run back at a low of around 531 to about 700 tons, the lowest since 2015 as exports from China have majorly increased,” said Ajay Kedia, director at Mumbai-based Kedia Commodities.

Platinum lost 0.9% to $1,640.30, while palladium slid 1.4% to $1,439.91.