2018.06.2013:45:00UTC+00Gold Lowest Settlement Of The Year

Gold prices were slightly lower Wednesday after Federal Reserve leader Jerome Powell said there is "rising" concern from business leaders about trade tensions.

"If you ask, is it in the forecast yet or the outlook? The answer is no. You don't see it in the performance of the economy and we don't have any way to know how to put it into the outlook just yet," he said.

Also, President Donald Trump has directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 percent.

August gold settles at $1,274.50/oz, down $4.10, or 0.3%, the lowest settlement in 2018.

the National Association of Realtors released a report showing an unexpected decrease in existing home sales in the month of May.

NAR said existing home sales fell by 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.43 million in May after plunging by 2.7 percent to a downwardly revised 5.45 million in April.