Prices fall as investors wait for any word of potential stimulus from the Federal Reserve.
Gold (-GC) for December delivery was losing $14.90 at $1,794.20 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold has traded as high as $1,819.40 and as low as $1,790.40, while the spot gold price was down almost $9, according to Kitco's gold index.
Silver (-SI) prices were down 8 cents at $40.05 an ounce while the U.S. dollar index was adding 0.4% at $77.30.
"Players are likely to remain cautious as they await the outcome of the Fed meeting," says James Moore, research analyst at FastMarkets.
On the table are three options for the Fed: expanding its bond buying program to pump more money into the system (although $1.6 trillion of its last quantitative easing still sits in the Fed's excess reserves, meaning banks are hoarding it, not lending it), lowering reserve rates from 0.25% to zero to encourage the banks to lend that money, or sell short-term Treasuries and buy longer term ones to secure low rates.
