Gold Rises a Third Day as Bessent Spurs Fed Rate-Cut Bets

Gold extended its advance for a third consecutive session on Thursday, buoyed by intensifying expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin reducing interest rates as soon as its 17 September meeting. The metal gained further support after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there is a “good chance” the central bank will opt for a 50-basis-point cut, comments that reinforced market bets on easier policy and pressured the dollar. Spot gold rose 0.1% to $3,357.65 an ounce at 04:10 GMT, while December-delivery futures slipped 0.1% to $3,406.80. The dollar index hovered near multi-week lows and benchmark 10-year Treasury yields stayed close to a one-week trough, improving the appeal of non-interest-bearing bullion. Traders now see a September rate reduction as a near certainty and assign a roughly 6% probability to an even larger half-percentage-point move, according to LSEG data. Investors will scrutinize U.S. producer-price, weekly jobless-claims and retail-sales reports later this week for additional guidance on the Fed’s policy path. In other precious metals, silver was little changed at $38.49 an ounce, platinum eased 0.3% to $1,336, and palladium advanced 1.2% to $1,135.93.