By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Wednesday morning in Asia but a strengthening dollar and rising bond yields capping gains for the yellow metal.
Gold futures inched up 0.12% to $1,733.85 by 11:42 PM ET (3:42 AM GMT). The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, inched up on Wednesday and was near a three-week high.
The U.S. Senate also passed a huge infrastructure plan on Tuesday, which will now be voted on by the House of Representatives. The news sent U.S. Treasury yields to their highest levels since mid-July 2021 and U.S. shares also closed at record highs.
Immediately after passing the bill, the Senate kicked off debate on a $3.5 trillion spending blueprint.
Investors now await U.S. data, including the core consumer price index, due to be released later in the day, to gauge inflationary pressure as well as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next move.
The current inflation spike should not push the Fed to begin asset tapering or hike interest rates prematurely, as more months of labor data is needed before any changes to monetary policy, said Chicago Fed President Charles Evans.
Evans’ comments were in contrast to the Fed’s recent hawkish stance, which spurred bets on an earlier-than-expected asset tapering and sent gold tumbling to a four-month low on Monday.
In other precious metals, silver eased 0.1% to $23.29 per ounce. Platinum rose 0.7% while palladium was steady at $2,640.75.