WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled higher on Wednesday as the dollar drifted down amid prospects of a few rate cuts by the Federal Bank starting this month.
The dollar index dropped to 101.24 before recovering to around 101.40, still well below the previous close of 101.83.
Gold futures for September ended up $3.50 or about 0.14% at $2,493.40 an ounce.
Silver futures for September settled higher by $0.216 or 0.77% at $28.167 an ounce, while Copper futures for September dropped to $4.0190 per pound, down $0.0130 from the previous close.
In economic news today, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing a bigger than expected decrease by job openings in the U.S. in the month of July.
The Labor Department said job openings edged to 7.67 million in July from a downwardly revised 7.91 million in June.
Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 8.10 million from the 8.18 million originally reported for the previous month.
A report from the Commerce Department said factory orders spiked by 5% in July after plunging by 3.3% in June. Economists had expected factory orders to surge by 4.7%.
The rebound by factory orders came as durable goods orders soared by 9.8% in July after plummeting by 6.9% in June. Orders for transportation equipment led the way higher, skyrocketing by 34.7%.
The report said orders for non-durable goods also climbed by 0.8% in July after coming in unchanged in the previous month.
The most highly anticipated event of the week comes Friday, with the release of the August jobs report.
Economists currently expect employment to climb by 165,000 jobs in August after an increase of 114,000 jobs in July.
The unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 4.2 percent after rising to 4.3 percent in July, reaching its highest level since October 2021.
The Federal Reserve is almost certain to lower interest rates at its next meeting later this month, but there is some disagreement about the pace of rate cuts.
According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, there is a 63% chance of a quarter point rate cut and a 37% chance of a half point rate cut.
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