Gold prices drop on Tuesday, what are investors awaiting?

Gold prices fell in early trading on Tuesday, but as investors waited for the decisions of major central bank meetings, there was little volatility.

As of 10:15 pm Eastern Time, gold futures fell slightly by 0.09% to US$1,786.65. The U.S. dollar, usually the opposite of gold, rose slightly on Tuesday.

This week, about 20 central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan, will announce their policy decisions.

The Fed will start a two-day monetary policy meeting later and announce its 

policy decision on Wednesday, which is expected to accelerate its asset reduction plan.

Investors are also awaiting news about the timing of interest rate hikes in 2022

On Thursday, the European Central Bank will announce its policy decision and is expected to confirm its withdrawal from the 1.85 trillion euro (2.08 trillion U.S. dollars) COVID-19 emergency stimulus plan in March 2022.

At the same time, for the Bank of England, worries about omicron COVID-19 variants outweigh concerns about high inflation and the possibility of lower interest rate hikes. According to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the U.K. has reported its first death related to an omicron case.

The U.S. producer price index will be announced later today in terms of data. Chinese data, including industrial production and retail sales, will be released in the Asia-Pacific region on Wednesday.

At the same time, a survey released by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday showed that U.S. consumers had higher short-term inflation expectations in November, while expectations for future earnings growth have declined.

In terms of other precious metals, silver fell slightly by 0.1%, platinum stabilized at US$929.45, and palladium fell 0.3%.