Gold futures were dropping on Tuesday as the state of the U.S. economy brightened but investors also were cautious in preparation for the release of minutes from the U.S. central bank's most recent meeting, according to Reuters. The minutes are likely to serve as an indicator as to which way U.S. monetary policy will sway, as when it was loosened last year the precious metal barreled to record high prices of $1,923.70 in early September. The sovereign debt crisis also contributed to gold's gains last year. "I think we're in a bit of a soft patch for investment demand in the gold market, just given the lack of movement that we're likely to see from monetary authorities over the course of the next quarter," analyst Michael Drebner with Deutsche Bank told Reuters. At 10:20 a.m. on Tuesday, gold futures dropped 0.37 percent, a $6.20 fall to $1,673.50 per troy ounce. MarketWatch reports the precious metal's performance suffered from uplifting U.S. manufacturing data, which helped pull back from gains on Monday. Gold futures also were falling with the price of other futures among the commodity complex on Tuesday.

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