Gold futures settled notably higher on Wednesday as the dollar shed ground and bond yields dropped.<\/p>\n
Gold prices climbed higher as data showing contraction in business<\/span> activity in most of the major economies across the globe triggered safe-haven buying.<\/p>\n Investors also looked ahead to the Jackson Hole Symposium, scheduled to take place later in the week.<\/p>\n The dollar index, which surged to 103.93, tumled to 103.30, losing about 0.25%.<\/p>\n Gold futures for December ended higher by $22.10 or about 1.2% at $1,948.10 an ounce.<\/p>\n Silver futures for September ended up $0.942 at $24.392 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $3.8085 per pound, gaining $0.0515. <\/p>\n The economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this week will feature meetings by global central bank leaders as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, with traders hoping for some clarity on the Fed’s plans to keep inflation on a downward path.<\/p>\n “The US economy<\/span> is weakening, not as much as Europe, so that should provide some relief from the surge with global bond yields,” says Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA. “Gold could have a major rebound if we see a short squeeze in the bond market, but a longer-term bullish trend seems unlikely as interest rates will likely stay higher-for-longer.”<\/p>\n S&P Global released data showing a slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in the month of August as well as a contraction in manufacturing activity during the month.<\/p>\n Eurozone business activity contracted further in August as the region’s downturn spread further from manufacturing to services, according to PMI survey data published earlier today.<\/p>\n The S&P Global composite index flash reading fell to 47.0 from 48.6 in July, hitting its lowest since November 2020.<\/p>\n The U.K. manufacturing PMI fell from 45.3 to 41.5 in August, hitting a 39-month low, while the services PMI fell from 51.5 to 48.7, touching a 7-month low. <\/p>\n