* Jackson Hole meeting closely watched for policy clues
* Kansas Fed chief George says time to raise rates
* GRAPHIC-2016 asset returns: http://reut.rs/1WAiOSC (Updates prices, adds comment)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Gold hit four-week lows on Thursday, under pressure from upbeat U.S. data in the run-up to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this week that will be watched for clues on monetary policy.
Market players are hoping Yellen will give a clearer signal on the path of interest rate hikes when she addresses a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.
Kicking off the conference with a cautiously hawkish view, Kansas City Fed President Esther George said in an interview that it is time for the Fed to gradually raise rates, given progress on employment and inflation. gold XAU= was down 0.2 percent at $1,320.40 an ounce at 1332 GMT, while U.S. gold futures GCv1 for December delivery were down $6.40 an ounce at $1,323.30.
Data on Thursday showed new orders for U.S. manufactured capital goods rose for a second straight month in July, while another report showed an unexpected drop in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week. jobless claims were a good sign," Natixis analyst Bernard Dahdah said. "The chance of a rate hike happening in September is still relatively low, at 32 percent, but that's an improvement, compared to where it was.
"We still hold the position that (a hike) will probably come in December," he added. "If they do raise rates in September, that could have a big effect on gold, in the sense that the market would be taken by surprise."
Gold is highly sensitive to rising U.S. rates, as these increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
Minutes from the U.S. central bank's July 26-27 policy meeting showed broad agreement that more economic data is needed before raising interest rates, but recent comments from other policymakers have been much more hawkish. the Fed minutes, gold reacted quite positively, and then a few days later there were comments from some officials saying actually the Fed should press ahead with a rate hike," Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said.
"That weighed on the gold price. Now what we're seeing is a bit of a wait-and-see mode, where markets are just monitoring the situation and waiting for further comments that might move the market."
Silver XAG= was up 0.1 percent at $18.53 an ounce, after hitting an eight-week low of $18.46 earlier in the session.
Platinum XPT= and palladium XPD= were both up 0.1 percent at $1,076.40 and $682.35 respectively, after touching their lowest in more than four weeks on Wednesday.
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