Gold futures settled lower for a second day in a row Tuesday, as the precious metal lost its safe haven status after some upbeat macroeconomic data out of the U.S. and an eurozone deal with a new bailout program for Greece. The agreement on Greece came late Monday after marathon talks lasting almost 10 hours in Brussels. Nevertheless, investor focus now shifts to the looming fiscal cliff with billions of dollar in spending cuts and tax increases indicated to begin in January, unless an agreement is reached.
Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $7.30 or 0.4 percent to close at $1,742.30 an ounce Tuesday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold for December delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,751.90 and a low of $1,742.50 an ounce.
Yesterday, gold settled marginally lower as the dollar turned higher amid concerns over the delay in reaching a deal for the next installment of financial aid to Greece.
The eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement on a new bailout program for Greece, with the EU and IMF stating that Greece's sovereign long-term debt would be reduced by 40 billion euros or 124 percent of gross domestic product by the year 2020. The reduction would take place through a series of steps, and is expected to clear the way for Greece to receive up to 44 billion euros in bailout funding to keep struggling banks solvent and pay government workers.
In an effort to reduce the Greek debt, eurozone finance ministers agreed to cut interest rates on loans to Greece and return profit made on European Central Bank purchases of Greek government bonds. The finance ministers also agreed to assist Greece in buying back its own bonds from private investors.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 80.40 on Tuesday, up from 80.13 in North American trade late Monday. The dollar scaled a high of 80.47 intraday and a low of 80.02.
The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.2933 on Tuesday, as compared to $1.2973 late Monday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3009 intraday and a low of $1.2916.
In economic news from the U.S., the Commerce Department said durable goods orders edged up less than a tenth of a percent in October after surging a revised 9.2 percent in September. Economists had been expecting orders to decrease by about 0.8 percent. Excluding a 3.1 percent drop in orders in the volatile transportation sector, durable goods orders rose by 1.5 percent in October following a 1.7 percent increase in the previous month.
Consumer confidence in the U.S. showed continued improvement in November, a Conference Board report showed Tuesday. The consumer confidence index is at its highest level in over four years. The consumer confidence index climbed to 73.7 in November from an upwardly revised 73.1 in October. Economists expected the index to edge up to 72.8 from the 72.2 originally reported for the previous month. This is the highest level the consumer confidence index has scaled since coming in at 76.4 in February 2008.
Separately, Standard & Poor's said S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index saw a 3.0 percent annual increase in September compared to the 2.0 percent year-over-year growth seen in August. Economists had expected prices to increase by about 2.9 percent. S&P also said the 20-City Composite Home Price Index increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent on a monthly basis in September following a matching increase in August.
From Europe, the U.K. economy expanded 1 percent sequentially in the third quarter as previously estimated, ending three straight quarters of contraction, second estimate published by the Office for National Statistics showed. The third quarter growth follows a 0.4 percent decline in the second quarter and a 0.3 percent drop in the first quarter of 2012.
Meanwhile, a report from the Federal Statistical Office revealed that Germany's import price inflation slowed to 1.5 percent annually in October. Economists had forecast the annual rate to remain unchanged at 1.8 percent. Month-on-month, import prices were down 0.6 percent, compared to a 0.7 percent drop a month ago. It was forecast to ease just 0.3 percent in October.
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Market Analysis
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.