Mubasher: Gold prices slid on Thursday, as investors booked profits amid anticipation for Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Federal Reserve’s annual conclave, looking for clarification on the direction of US monetary policy, according to Reuters.

By 10:59 am GMT, spot gold fell by 0.40% to $1,496.63 per ounce, while US gold futures dropped by $1,505.90 per ounce.

“We are seeing a holding pattern until the remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium,” OANDA analyst Jeffrey Halley was quoted by Reuters.

Investors are now awaiting Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole on Friday, for more insight on interest rate cuts, especially after an inversion in the Treasury yield curve foreboded the risk of a US economic recession.

Should Powell point to an aggressive approach to rate cuts, the yellow metal may not have great support in the short term, as stock markets would gain, Halley said.

The Fed’s July meeting minutes showed a division among rate-setters on whether to cut interest rates, but at the same time, an agreement on the need to signal they were not on a preset monetary loosening trajectory.

Meanwhile, Fed fund futures are still priced for a quarter-point cut in rates next month, and more than 100 basis points (bps) of easing by the end of next year.

Traders are also looking at the Group of Seven (G7) summit this weekend for clues on what additional measures central banks would take to stimulate economic growth.

Moreover, minutes from the European Central Bank’s (ECB) last policy meeting are also set to be released, in which more insight on how aggressively the central bank would loosen monetary policy.