FX.co ★ Gold Futures Settle Higher For 3rd Straight Session

Gold futures settled higher on Thursday, extending gains to a third straight day, as the dollar stayed weak and bond yields dropped ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday.

Powell is widely expected to reiterate the central bank's hawkish stance, given the expectations that inflation in the U.S. will be persistent and it will take time to contain it.

The dollar index, which was fairly deeply down in negative territory during the Asian session, recovered as the day progressed but still remained below the flat line. At 108.48, the index was down nearly 0.2% a little while ago.

Gold futures for December ended higher by $9.90 or about 0.6% at $1,771.40 an ounce.

Silver futures for September ended up $0.213 at $19.120 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $3.6990 per pound, up $0.0445 from the previous close.

Data from the Labor Department showed the U.S. economy contracted an annualized 0.6% in the second quarter, following a 1.6% drop a quarter earlier.

Personal consumption expenditure increased 1.5% in the second quarter, after rising 1.8% in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, personal consumption expenditure rose 1.9% in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims dropped to 243,000 in the week ended August 20th, from a revised 245,000 claims a week earlier.