By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia, with higher U.S. Treasury yields and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s commitment to current ultra-easy monetary policy all putting a dent in the yellow metal’s appeal.
Gold futures inched down 0.09% at $1,796.40 by 11:23 PM ET (4:23 AM GMT). The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, was down on Thursday, reversing earlier gains.
Powell recommitted to getting the U.S. economy back to full employment during his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. He also tried to calm growing fears about inflation, saying that he will only start worrying about it if prices begin to rise in a persistent and troubling way.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields remained near the highest levels in a year hit during the previous session.
Although Powell is the latest central banker to reiterate that his institution has no plans to cut back on money-printing or raise interest rates in the short term, investors will take a bit of convincing.
However, investors were cheered by a third COVID-19 vaccine nearing regulatory approval. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday that Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) one-dose COVID-19 vaccine appeared safe and effective in clinical trials and could grant emergency use approval by the end of the week.
In Israel, the results from a study published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday showed that two doses of the Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine cut symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much.
Other precious metals also saw drops, with silver slipping 0.7%, platinum falling 1.1% and palladium easing 0.1%.