By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures retreated moderately Wednesday as investor interest slowed ahead of the much-expected U.S. Federal Reserve announcement.
Gold for December delivery (GCZ10 1,354, -2.50, -0.18%) was off $2.80, or 0.2%, to $1,354.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Fed officials are widely expected to announce on Wednesday a second round of bond purchases to help support the economy.
Although estimates on the size of the package vary, the “injection of liquidity should in any case increase the risks of inflation, which could prompt investors to increase investments in gold,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a report Wednesday.
Silver came off a 30-year high on the previous session to track gold lower. Silver for December delivery (SIZ10 2,480, -3.60, -0.15%) dropped 7 cents, or 0.3%, to $24.76 an ounce.
The dollar started off weaker but came off lows on Wednesday, pressuring commodities. The dollar index (DXY 76.86, +0.14, +0.18%) , which compares the U.S. unit to a basket of six other currencies, was recently up 0.1% to 76.81.
Traders earlier contended with a report showing a healthy rise in private-sector jobs in October. Payroll giant Automatic Data Processing said these jobs rose 43,000, almost double what economists had expected. Read more on ISM services.
