By Claudia Assis and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures turned lower Tuesday after U.S. data showed a rise in retail sales and an uptick in inflation slightly above expectations.
Gold futures for December delivery GCZ2 -0.60% fell $10.70, or 0.7%, to $1,602 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had traded modestly higher before the 8:30 a.m. Eastern reports.
Gold snapped a three-day winning streak on Monday amid low volumes, a lack of macroeconomic reports, and losses for most global equities and commodities.
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported a 0.8% increase in retail sales for July — the biggest gain in sales since February and an increase that beat analyst expectations. Retail sales jump in July.
U.S. wholesale prices also rose in July, up 0.3% on higher food costs, the Labor Department said. The increase in wholesale-level inflation was slightly above forecast. Read more about wholesale prices.
A modestly stronger dollar added to gold’s woes. The ICE dollar index DXY +0.12% rose to 82.492 from 82.404 late in the North American session on Monday.
Hopes for additional policy easing bode well for the metal’s longer-term prospects, analysts at Commerzbank said.
“Forthcoming monetary easing measures to be taken by central banks are likely to spark higher inflation rates, which should benefit gold as a store of value,” they wrote in a note to clients.
“What is more, the escalation of tensions in the [Middle East] is causing the geopolitical risks to increase,” they added. “We are therefore confident that the remainder of the year will bring considerable price rises, and would put the gold price at above $1,900 per troy ounce by year’s end.”
Among the broader suite of metals futures, September silver SIU2 -0.19% turned lower, off 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $27.70 an ounce.
Copper for September delivery HGU2 +0.18% gained less than 1 cent, or 0.1%, to $3.36 a pound.
October platinum PLV2 +0.37% added 5 cents, or 0.4% to $1,397.70 an ounce.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter, based in London.
