Gold prices declined sharply on Friday, as the dollar firmed against peers amid bets the Fed would resort to aggressive monetary tightening after data showed the jobless rate in U.S. dropped to a new two-year low in March.
A surge in Treasury yields also weighed on the yellow metal, while concerns about the Russia-Ukraine conflict limited gold's declined.
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Market Analysis
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.