Gold futures settled lower for a second straight day Wednesday, as investors weighed the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the Congress that the central bank would likely go slow on its quantitative easing program soon.
Bernanke's remarks were seen as supportive of leaving the monetary policy unchanged in the near future, providing a negative for gold. Nevertheless, the Fed chief generated some negative sentiment in his testimony before the Congress when he indicated that upbeat economic data could lead the central bank to scale back its asset purchase program in the next few meetings.
Addressing the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Bernanke said any "premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further."
Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, shed $10.20 or 0.7 percent to close at $1,367.40 an ounce Wednesday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold for June delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,413.30 and a low of $1,365.50 an ounce.
Yesterday, gold settled lower with the US dollar strengthening ahead of the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee policy meet, later this week, on the central bank's future policy on its quantitative easing program.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved down to 1,023.08 tons from 1,031.50 tons..
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 84.33 on Wednesday, up from 83.77 late Tuesday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 84.42 intraday and a low of 83.46.
The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.2865 on Wednesday, as compared to $1.2906 late Tuesday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3000 intraday and a low of $1.2846.
In economic news from the U.S., the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales climbed 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million in April from an upwardly revised 4.94 million in March. Economists had been expecting existing home sales to rise to an annual rate of 5.0 million from the 4.92 million originally reported for the previous month.
Elsewhere, the euro area current account surplus surged to 25.9 billion euros in March largely due to an increase in trade surplus, the European Central Bank reported. The current account surplus amounted to 14.6 billion euros in February. The trade in goods totaled 21.8 billion euros, up sharply from 11.5 billion euros a month ago. However, the surplus on trade in services fell to 7.6 billion euros from 8.4 billion euros.
Meanwhile, retail sales in the UK declined unexpectedly in April, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales volume, including auto fuel, fell 1.3 percent month-on-month in April against forecast for a 0.1 percent increase. Sales, excluding fuel, dropped 1.4 percent compared with an expected 0.1 percent growth.
The call for additional stimulus by Bank of England chief Mervyn King was overturned by other policymakers for the fourth consecutive month, minutes showed. As seen in previous months, King, Paul Fisher and David Miles sought an increase in quantitative easing by GBP 25 billion to GBP 400 billion.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.