gold prices fell to a five-month low on monday, pressured by a stronger u.s. dollar and investor concerns that the federal reserve will raise interest rates in december. gold for december delivery settled down 0.2% at $1,221.70 a troy ounce on the comex division of the new york mercantile exchange, closing out its sixth straight day of losses. the precious metal traded at the lowest level since june 1, falling as low as $1,211.00 during the session. the wall street journal dollar index, which weighs the dollar against a basket of other currencies, was up 0.8% on monday. a stronger dollar is bearish for gold, which is priced in the u.s. currency and becomes more expensive to foreign investors when the dollar rises. <u+201c>gold is still facing considerable headwind: the u.s. dollar is continuing to appreciate,<u+201d> said analysts at commerzbank . optimism over economic growth under the coming trump administration has prompted investors to dump such safe-haven assets as gold, and buy riskier assets. stocks have climbed to new highs in the days following the election, with the dow jones industrial average trading at an intraday record high on monday. <u+201c>metals continue to be caught in the euphoria of a new dawn in u.s. economic growth,<u+201d> said peter hug, global trading director at kitco metals, in a monday note. the prospect of the federal reserve increasing interest rates in december is also pressuring investor sentiment in gold, which doesn<u+2019>t bear interest and struggles to compete with assets like treasurys when rates rise. on monday, federal reserve bank of dallas president robert kaplan said the central bank will need to implement <u+201c>patient, careful<u+201d> interest-rate increases, taking the economy out of the low interest-rate environment. traders in the market for fed-funds futures, derivatives used to bet on the timing of fed interest-rate decisions, reflect about an 86% probability of a rate rise by december, according to cme group . write to georgi kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com and stephanie yang at stephanie.yang@wsj.com
gold prices at 5-month low on stronger dollar, risk appetite  - wsj
stephanie yang