Investing.com - Gold prices edged lower on Monday, pulling back from their highest level in around two months as concerns about tensions between the U.S. and North Korea eased.
Comex gold futures dipped $1.80, or around 0.1%, to $1,292.18 a troy ounce by 2:45AM ET (0645GMT). It rose to its highest since June 6 at $1,298.10 in the prior session.
The yellow metal notched a third-straight day of gains on Friday, capping its strongest weekly rise in four months as simmering North Korean tensions buoyed haven demand for precious metals.
Geopolitical concerns appeared to fade on Monday as U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the Trump administration would continue to seek diplomatic resolutions with Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, in separate Sunday talk show appearances, said there was no indication war with North Korea will break out.
The soothing comments came after Present Donald Trump said late last week that military options against the hermit state were “locked and loaded”.
Market players looked ahead to a busy week of economic data, including the monthly retail sales report on Tuesday, for further clues on the timing of the next Federal Reserve rate hike.
Traders will also focus on minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting due Wednesday, as they look for more hints on how the central bank plans to pare back its balance sheet.
Markets remain skeptical the Fed will raise interest rates again this year, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, due to worries over the subdued inflation outlook, but it is widely expected to start the process of reducing its balance sheet by September.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver futures gained 7.4 cents, or around 0.4%, to $17.14 a troy ounce.
Among other precious metals, platinum shed 0.6% at $982.30, while palladium was little changed at $893.72 an ounce.
Meanwhile, copper futures slumped after China reported disappointing industrial production data.
Factory output rose 6.4% in July from a year earlier, the slowest pace since January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Analysts had predicted output would grow 7.2%, down from 7.6% in June.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.