Gold Prices Up Despite Bullish Data; U.S., China Resumes Trade Talks This Week
Gold prices traded higher on Tuesday in Asia despite bullish data from the U.S. and China.
for August delivery traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 0.2% to $1,416.55 by 1:15 AM ET (05:12 GMT).
The gains came despite bullish Empire State manufacturing numbers and other positive industrial production and retail sales data out of China yesterday.
Overnight, the New York Fed said that its Empire State manufacturing index for July came in at 4.3, compared with -8.6 in June.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates at the end of the month for the first time in a decade, lowering the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
On the Sino-U.S. trade front, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is likely to go to Beijing for trade discussions following phone calls with Chinese officials this week.
“We expect to have another principal-level call this week, and to the extent we make significant progress, I think there’s a good chance we’ll go there later,” Mnuchin said Monday at the White House.
The that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was little changed at 96.578.
