By Gold and silver prices tumbled Tuesday morning, reversing earlier gains, as U.S. inflation for August came in surprisingly strong, causing the dollar to rise and short-term Treasury yields to reach fresh 14-year highs.
Price action
Gold futures
GCZ22,
-1.40%
for December delivery fell $19.50, or 1.1%, to $1,721 per ounce on Comex.
Silver futures
SIU22,
-0.99%
for December delivery shed 27 cents, or 1.4%, to $19.59 per ounce.
What analysts say
Precious-metals analysts blamed the U.S. August consumer price index data for the sudden retreat in prices.
“Gold and silver prices are solidly lower in early U.S. trading Tuesday following a surprisingly hotter-than-expected inflation report that reinforces notions the Federal Reserve will keep its aggressive monetary policy tightening stance,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.
U.S. CPI inflation rose by 0.1% in August, against expectations for a 0.1% drop in a Wall Street Journal poll of economists. What’s worse, the so-called core rate of inflation, which omits food and energy, rose by a sharp 0.6%, higher than the 0.3% rise economists’ who participated in the WSJ survey had expected.
