The most active gold contract for February delivery rose 15.10 U.S. dollars, or 0.75 percent, to close at 2,021.60 dollars per ounce.
In remarks delivered at the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2024 Economic Outlook event on Thursday, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said he expects the central bank to start implementing rate cuts in the third quarter of this year, as long as the current economic conditions hold steady.
In Bostic's view, monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive to promote the return of inflation to the Federal Reserve's 2-percent target over the medium term.
Economic data released on Thursday were mixed. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index rose 2.2 points in January to a reading of -10.6, an 18th negative reading in the past 20 months, worse than market estimates for a print of -7.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that U.S. initial jobless claims came in at 187,000 in the week ending Jan. 13, a decline of 16,000 from the previous week and below economists' estimates of 205,000. That's the lowest level for initial claims since September 2022 when it was 182,000.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported that U.S. housing starts decreased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.46 million in December, 4.3 percent below the revised November estimate of 1.525 million, but was 7.6 percent above the December 2022 rate of 1.357 million.
Silver for March delivery rose 13.80 cents, or 0.61 percent, to close at 22.807 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery rose 22.40 dollars, or 2.52 percent, to close at 912.00 dollars per ounce.
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