Gold Falls for a Second Day as Traders Await Fed Meeting Outcome
- Officials seen doubling taper pace, steepening rate-hike path
- U.S. producer prices post biggest annual increase on record
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Gold fell for a second straight session, extending declines after its worst daily loss since late November, as investors assessed U.S. inflation data and counted down to the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting of the year later Wednesday.
Prices paid to U.S. producers posted a record annual increase of almost 10% in November, a surge that will sustain a pipeline of inflationary pressures well into 2022. That’s boosting the case for the Fed to tighten monetary policy, which is weighing on non-interest bearing assets such as precious metals. U.S. retail sales rose by less than forecast in November, suggesting that consumers are tempering purchases against a backdrop of the fastest inflation in decades.