11.06.202010:56:00UTC+00Gold Hovers Near One-week High

Gold prices traded mixed on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates at current near-zero levels through 2022.

Spot gold eased 0.4 percent to $1,732.12 per ounce, after having hit its highest level since June 2 at $1,739.68 per ounce earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures were up 1.1 percent at $1,739.20 per ounce.

After promising to maintain bond purchases at "the current pace", the Fed projected that the U.S. economy will contract by 6.5 percent this year. Unemployment is expected to be at 9.3 percent by the end of 2020.

Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell said that millions of Americans may never get their jobs back and that Congress will probably need to extend additional aid as unemployment remains at historic highs.

The lack of the Fed's confidence in the U.S. economic recovery weighed on equities while the dollar rose from three-month lows amid U.S.-China tensions and fears of a hard Brexit.

Meanwhile, concerns are growing about a second wave of the Covid-19 virus after Texas on Wednesday reported 2,504 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day total since the pandemic emerged.