Gold steadies below $1,990 after key US data

The US economy grew slower than anticipated in the first quarter of the year. Stock markets are on the rise amid upbeat corporate earnings reports as gold is technically neutral, although, with absent demand for US dollar, the risk skews to the upside.

Gold failed once again to penetrate the $2,000 threshold and trades around $1,990, at the time of writing, gold is trading at $1987.00 per ounce. The Gold Index bottomed for the day at $1,974.06 as the US Dollar gathered temporal momentum following the release of the United States’ critical macroeconomic figures.

US economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.1% in the first quarter of the year, according to the preliminary Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimate. At the same time and within the same period, Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Prices rose to 4.9% from 4.4%, suggesting March inflation remained stubbornly high.

US data was discouraging but not a surprise for market participants, which already know inflation remains stubbornly high, but still below the record peaks posted last year.