Investing.com - Gold prices slipped in U.S. trading on Wednesday as upbeat U.S. data and earnings sent investors flocking to stock markets and out of safe-haven positions in the yellow metal.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery traded at 1,305.50 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, down 0.07%, up from a session low of $1,303.60 and off a high of $1,311.60.
The August contract settled down 0.58% at $1,306.30 on Tuesday.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,302.20 a troy ounce, Tuesday's low, and resistance at $1,319.00, Monday's high.
Upbeat data released in the U.S. on Tuesday and a slew of better-than-expected earnings enticed investors out of gold and into equities on Wednesday.
The Labor Department reported Tuesday that the U.S. consumer price index rose 2.1% in June, unchanged from the previous month and in line with forecasts.
On a month-over-month basis, U.S. consumer prices were up 0.3% after a 0.4% increase in May, also in line with expectations.
June's core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy costs, rose by just 0.1% from May and 1.9% on year, slightly below market calls for 0.2% and 2.0% readings, respectively, which illustrated how gasoline was driving the headline CPI up, though markets viewed the numbers as fundamentally healthy anyway.
Also on Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported earlier that existing U.S. home sales rose 2.6% to 5.04 million units in June from 4.91 million in May, beating market forecasts for a 2.0% rise to 4.97 million units.
Elsewhere, earnings season is underway in the U.S., and better-than-expected numbers from Comcast, Verizon, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Google, Apple, Microsoft, General Electric and others also sent investors flocking to stocks.
Reports of waning physical demand pushed gold prices lower, though ongoing geopolitical concerns in Ukraine and Israel kept safe-harbor demand alive, which cushioned losses.
Meanwhile, silver for September delivery was down 0.07% at $20.993 a troy ounce, while copper futures for September delivery were up 0.05% at $3.210 a pound.