Gold Edges Higher as Lower Oil, Fed Hike Temper Inflation Fears
Gold extended its recovery at the end of a volatile week as oil fell, and traders weighed the Federal Reserve’s rate path after its first hike since 2023.
(Bloomberg) -- Gold extended its recovery at the end of a volatile week as oil fell, and traders weighed the Federal Reserve’s rate path after its first hike since 2023.
Bullion was trading around $4,350 an ounce. Oil’s decline is allaying concerns over inflation, with supply disruptions in the Middle East looking set to ease. Higher energy prices had reinforced bets on interest rates staying elevated for longer, a negative for non-yielding bullion.
The precious metal was lifted Thursday as Saudi Arabia moved to restore flows along its crucial East-West pipeline within days. The metal is now back above the 100-day moving average, a measure of momentum. Even so, it’s still nearly a fifth below a record reached in January.
Investors have been flocking to bullion in recent weeks, betting that the long-term drivers of the metal will endure. Gold-backed exchange-traded funds tracked by Bloomberg had eight consecutive days of inflows, the longest streak since October 2025.
The Fed hikes are likely to slow, rather than derail, the gold rally, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. including Lina Thomas wrote in a note, cutting their year-end target from $4,900 an ounce to $4,650.
“Much of the expected tightening already appears priced into ETF demand, stronger-than-expected central bank purchases continue to offset the remaining drag from higher rates, and call-option demand for gold as a macro-policy hedge has proven resilient,” Thomas wrote.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $4,355.90 an ounce at 11:21 a.m. in New York. Silver advanced 1.8% to $66.38 an ounce. Platinum and palladium rose. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the US currency, was up 0.2%.
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