Gold notches 3rd straight decline ahead of Fed gathering
Gold finished lower Monday, booking a third straight decline, as the precious metal encountered resistance amid rising U.S. government bond yields, even as the dollar softened. December gold, the most-active contract, finished $1.20, or less than 0.1%, lower at $1,231.50 an ounce. The decline marked the third consecutive for the precious metal and came even as the dollar weakened, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index slumped. A weaker dollar usually makes bullion more appealing to buyers using other currencies, and gold tends to rise as stocks, viewed as risky assets, fall. The decline for gold comes a day ahead of a closely watched two-day gathering of the Federal Reserve, which isn’t expected to yield major changes to policy, but may underscore the central bank’s intent to lift rates twice more in 2018. Higher rates can undercut the appeal of commodities like gold that don’t offer a yield. The 10-year benchmark Treasury yield has been climbing to around 3% in recent days.