MW; Gold prices slide along with equities ahead of Fed statement
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold prices lost more ground Tuesday, with investors selling equities and commodities ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement this afternoon.
Gold futures for December delivery fell $7.30 to $1,195.30 an ounce in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract on Monday fell 0.2% to end at $1,202.60 an ounce.
"Despite signs of risk aversion overnight, with equities lower and the dollar and yen trading higher, gold has slipped below the $1,200 level putting pressure on the rest of the complex," said James Moore, an analyst with the Bulliondesk.com.
"The focus will be on the strength and tone of [Ben] Bernanke's statement and whether the Fed chairman takes further action to bolster the economy following last week's bearish jobs report," Moore added.
Ahead of Wall Street's start, stock futures declined amid nervousness ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcement, which is due at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 70 points at 10,596.00, while S&P 500 Index futures fell 7.8 points to 1,117.80.
Oil futures were also down, lately off $1.43 at $80.05 a barrel in electronic trade on the Nymex, while the dollar gained against the euro and other currency rivals.
The euro (EURUSD 1.3126, -0.0097, -0.7336%) declined 0.5% to $1.3146 and the dollar index (DXY 81.30, +0.59, +0.73%) rose 0.6% to 81.181.
