By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold prices were down on Tuesday morning, but moves were small as investors await decisions from key central banks meetings.
Gold futures inched down 0.09% to $1,786.65 by 10:15 PM ET (3:15 AM GMT). The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, edged up on Tuesday.
Around 20 central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan, will hand down their respective policy decisions this week.
The Fed will begin its two-day monetary policy meeting later in the day and hand down its policy decision on Wednesday, where it is expected to accelerate its asset tapering program. Investors will also look for clues about the timing of interest rate hikes in 2022.
The European Central Bank will hand down its policy decision on Thursday, where it is expected to confirm its exit from EUR1.85 trillion ($2.08 trillion) COVID-19 emergency stimulus scheme in March 2022.
Meanwhile, for the Bank of England, concerns about the omicron COVID-19 variant is outweighing concerns about high inflation and diminishing the probability of an interest rate hike. The U.K. has reported its first death linked to an omicron case, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
On the data front, the U.S. producer price index is due later in the day. In Asia Pacific, Chinese data, including industrial production and retail sales, is due on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a New York Federal Reserve survey released on Monday showed that U.S. consumers' short-term inflation expectations were higher, while expectations for future earnings growth dropped, in November.
In other precious metals, silver inched down 0.1%, platinum was stable at $929.45 and palladium was down 0.3%.