WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled lower on Wednesday, after posting gains in the previous two sessions, amid uncertainty over the U.S. Federal Reserve's timeline to begin asset tapering.
The dollar's weakness helped limit gold's downside. The dollar index, which slid to a low of 92.42, recovered to 92.55 later in the session, cutting down its loss to just about 0.08%.
Gold futures for December ended down by $12.30 or about 0.7% at $1,794.89 an ounce. Gold futures had settled at a near two-week high on Tuesday, gaining 0.7% in the process.
Silver futures for December ended lower by $0.080 or 0.4% at $23.800 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.4100 per pound, gaining about 2%.
On Tuesday, the Labor Department's data showed the consumer price index rose by 0.3% in August after climbing by 0.5% in July. Economists had expected consumer prices to increase by 0.4%.
In economic news today, a report from the Fed showed industrial production in the U.S. increased by a slightly less than expected 0.4% in August, after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.8% in July.
Economists had expected industrial production to increase by 0.5% compared to the 0.9% advance originally reported for the previous month.
The Fed noted late-month shutdowns related to Hurricane Ida held down the gain in industrial production by an estimated 0.3 percentage points.
A separate report from the Labor Department unexpectedly showed U.S. import prices decreased for the first time since October of 2020 in the month of August. The report said import prices fell by 0.3% in August after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.4% in July.
Economists had expected import prices to rise by 0.3% in August.
Meanwhile, the report said export prices increased by 0.4% in August after jumping by a downwardly revised 1.1% in July. Economists had expected export prices to advance by 0.5% compared to the 1.3% surge originally reported for the previous month.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX