FX.co ★ Gold Futures Settle Modestly Higher

Gold futures settled higher on Thursday, after posting back-to-back losses, as the dollar stayed somewhat sluggish.

However, with global stocks surging higher amid slightly easing worries about inflation, the yellow metal's upside was just modest.

The dollar index, which rose to a near two-decade high on Wednesday, dropped to 106.71 in the European session, but recovered to 107.15 subsequently, gaining marginally over its previous close.

Meanwhile, the British pound strengthened against the dollar after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation, following an unprecedented wave of resignations from his government over the past two days.

Gold futures for August ended higher by $3.20 or about 0.2% at $1,739.70 an ounce, off the day's high of $1,748.20.

Silver futures for September ended up by $0.029 at $19.188 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $3.5720 per pound, gaining $0.1640.

In economic news, data released by the Commerce Department shows U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $85.5 billion in May of 2022, from $87.1 billion a month earlier.

Exports were up 1.2% or $3.0 billion in May from a month earlier, to $255.9 billion, while imports increased to $341.4 billion in May from $339.5 billion in April.

Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims rose to 235,000 in the week ended July 2nd. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, initial claims rose by 11,919 from the previous week to 219,507.