Gold slipped Wednesday as many investors sold holdings for a profit ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision to buy hundreds of billions more in Treasury bonds to revitalize the economy.
Other commodities were mostly higher after the policymakers said they will buy $600 billion of long-term government bonds by the middle of 2011. Their goal is to drive down interest rates that are already historically low.
Some commodities settled before the Fed's decision was made, including December gold, which fell $19.30 to settle at $1,337.60 an ounce.
In other metals contracts for December, silver dropped 40 cents to $24.436 an ounce, copper gave up 5.4 cents to settle at $3.7850 a pound, and palladium lost $2.75 to settle at $642.70 an ounce.
January platinum fell $21.90 to settle at $1,697.20 an ounce.
The Energy Department said crude inventories increased by 2 million barrels to 368.2 million barrels for the week ending Oct. 29.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.7 million barrels to 212.3 million barrels while supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, dropped by 3.6 million barrels to 164.9 million barrels.
In grains and beans, December wheat lost 4 cents to settle $6.9025 a bushel. December corn added 5.25 cents to $5.81 a bushel, and January soybeans gained 3.5 cents to $12.3750 a bushel.
