Investing.com - Gold prices remained under pressure during U.S. morning trade on Thursday, holding on to earlier losses as investors awaited more comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen for fresh clues about the timing of the next rate hike.
Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange slumped around $12.00, or 1%, to $1,200.50 a troy ounce by 9:10AM ET (14:10GMT), after sliding 80 cents, or less than 0.1%, a day earlier.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks again Thursday evening at 8:00PM ET (01:00GMT Friday) on the economic outlook and monetary policy at Stanford University.
In remarks delivered to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Wednesday, Yellen said it would "makes sense" for the U.S. central bank to gradually lift interest rates with the U.S. economy close to full employment and inflation headed toward the Fed's 2% goal.
The Fed chief said that she and other Fed policymakers expected the central bank to lift its key benchmark short-term rate "a few times a year" through 2019. That pace could change depending on how the outlook for the economy develops, Yellen cautioned.
The dollar index was at 101.49 early Thursday, pulling away from a near two-month low of 100.23 touched earlier this week.
The Fed indicated last month that at least three rate increases were in the offing for 2017, according to a forecast of interest rates from members of the central bank, known as the dot-plot.
However, traders remained unconvinced. Instead, markets are pricing in just two rate hikes during the course of this year, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Meanwhile, global financial markets will continue to focus on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as he takes the Oath of Office and offers his inaugural address on Friday. Trump will be speaking at a pre-inauguration event in Washington DC at 11:15AM ET (16:15GMT) on Thursday.
Investors will welcome any detail he may give on his promises of tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation, as well as insight regarding policies on China and the domestic economy.
Trump has been credited with being a major catalyst behind the market's impressive rally since election day, although he has yet to outline his economic policies in detail.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery sank 43.7 cents, or about 2.5%, at $16.83 a troy ounce during morning hours in New York.
Meanwhile, platinum fell 1.3% to $959.20, while palladium dipped 0.1% to $750.50 an ounce.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures eased down 0.2 cents, or about 0.1%, to $2.613 a pound.