Investing.com - Gold prices extended modest overnight losses during North America's session on Thursday, falling to a fresh one-week low as investors digested better than expected U.S. economic data.
Official data showed that the third estimate of U.S. second quarter gross domestic product showed growth of 1.4%, revised from the previous reading of a 1.1% expansion. Analysts had expected a growth rate of 1.3%.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims in the week ending September 24 increased by 3,000 to 254,000 from the previous week’s total of 251,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 9,000 to 260,000 last week.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange touched a daily low of $1,318.60 a troy ounce, a level not seen since September 21. It was last at $1,320.05 by 8:53AM ET (12:53GMT), down $3.65, or 0.28%.
Markets will now turn their attention to comments from a barrage of Federal Reserve officials, including the Fed chair, later in the session for more clues on the likelihood of a December rate hike.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, Fed Governor Jerome Powell, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Kansas City Fed President Esther George are all scheduled to speak during the day.
There is also an appearance by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who is due to speak via videoconference at the Minority Bankers Forum in Kansas City at 4:00PM ET (20:00GMT).
Yellen told Congress on Wednesday that the central bank does not have a "fixed timetable" for modifying its monetary policy. However, she added that continued job creation at its current pace would cause the economy to overheat and, in that case, the Fed could be forced to raise rates faster than expected.
Markets are currently pricing in around a 57% chance of a rate hike at December's meeting, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.25% at 95.55 early Thursday.
Against the yen, the dollar climbed 1% to 101.71, extending its rebound from one-month low of 100.06 touched last week.