In New York futures trading on Friday, an ounce of US gold for delivery in August settled at $2,399.10 an ounce on the Comex exchange, down 2.23% on the day.
For the week, August gold finished down 0.9%—its first weekly decline after a 0.8% weekly dip for the week ended June 12. Prior to Friday, August gold hit record highs over three consecutive sessions, peaking at $2,488.40 on Wednesday.
The spot price of gold, which reflects real-time trades in bullion, hovered at just under $2,400 an ounce in Friday’s late afternoon trade in New York. Spot gold’s all-time high this week was $2,483.78.
Gold’s run to record highs came after heightened speculation this week that the US Federal Reserve will embark on its first interest rate cut in four years by September—talk that sent the value of the dollar tumbling. Investors see gold as an alternative to the dollar, hence the contrasting performances of the two assets.
"It’s been two steps forward and one step back for pretty much all asset prices since winter last year," and Wednesday’s record for gold prices "came on a spike in... speculation as betting on a September cut flipped to 100% odds," Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, said in comments carried by MarketWatch.
Some commentators termed this week’s pullback in gold as "healthy," saying gold was still poised to breach $2,500 in the near term.
"It’s fairly typical behavior for a market that’s being driven largely by investor speculation," Brien Lundin, editor of the Gold Newsletter, said.
The Fed is closing in on its first-rate cut in four years amid steadily softening US economic data, although inflation remains well above its target, Chris Waller, one of the central bank’s seven governors, said on Wednesday.
Most Fed policymakers are of the opinion that there can be at least two rounds of cuts before the end of 2024.
The Fed’s policymaking The Federal Open Market Committee will meet four times before the year ends to review rates: July 31, September 18, November 7, and December 18.
US rates are currently in a range of between 5.25% and 5.5%, their highest in two decades. Wall Street is expecting a 0.25% cut in each of the two easings projected for this year. The last time the Fed cut rates was in March 2020, at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic — when it slashed a full 100 basis points, or 1%.