2021.03.2518:33:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower As Dollar Climbs Up

Gold futures settled lower on Thursday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and higher U.S. Treasury yields.

Treasury yields climbed after Fed Chair Jerome Powell told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on Wednesday that 2021 was "going to be a very, very strong year in the most likely case."

Powell said that inflation will move up over the course of this year, but the effect will be neither particularly large nor persistent.

Powell also said the Fed plans to gradually roll back its asset purchases as the economy makes substantial progress towards the Fed's goals of maximum employment and price stability.

The dollar index rose to 92.92 and despite paring some gains subsequently, was still firmly up in positive territory at 92.81, up 0.3% from previous close.

Gold futures for April ended down $8.10 or about 0.5% at $1,725.10 an ounce.

Silver futures for May closed lower by $0.184 at $25.047 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled with a loss of $0.0860 at $3.9780 per pound.

Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims slid to 684,000 in the week ended March 20th, a decrease of 97,000 from the previous week's revised level of 781,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to decline to 730,000 from the 770,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the much bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 282,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed real gross domestic product surged up by 4.3% in the fourth quarter compared to the previously reported 4.1% jump. Economists had expected the pace of GDP growth to be unrevised.