Gold Futures Inch Up After 0.44% Loss

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By Jacob Maslow

Gold futures are still struggling to find direction amid the Federal Reserve rate hike outlook. After suffering a $5.00, or 0.44%, loss the previous day, gold inched back up on Tuesday morning$1.40, or 0.12%. In European morning hours, gold was trading at $1,134.20 per troy ounce.

Market experts believe that the Fed will start raising rates in December after making the decision to maintain the current policy last week.

On July 24, gold dropped to a 5.5-year low to $1,072.30 amid speculation that the central bank would raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

The timing of the rate hike has been debated in the markets for months.

In other metals trading, December delivery for copper slid 1.26%, or 3 cents,to $2.359 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, China is set to release an initial reading of the Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for the month this Wednesday. Analysts expect the index to increase to 47.5 in September. The final reading for the previous month was 47.3, the lowest since March 2009.

China is a leading consumer of copper, and economic volatility has led to heavy selling pressure on copper prices in the last few weeks. On August 24, copper prices dropped to $2.202, a 6-year low, after fears of an economic slowdown spooked traders.

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