2023.06.0718:00:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Notably Lower

Gold futures settled notably lower on Wednesday with traders looking ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

Although the Fed is widely expected to leave rates unchanged, CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates a 37.9% chance of another rate hike.

Key inflation reports are also likely to be in the spotlight next week, as the data could impact whether the Fed resumes its rate hikes next month.

The Bank of Canada today raised its benchmark rates by 25 basis points, citing stubbornly high inflation and stronger than expected economic growth.

The dollar index, which dropped to 103.66 around mid morning, recovered to 104.20, gaining about 0.06%.

Gold futures for August ended lower by $23.10 or about 1.2% at $1,958.40 an ounce.

Silver futures for July ended down $0.141 at $23.529 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $3.7560 per pound, down $0.0125 from the previous close.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. trade deficit widened significantly in the month of April.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit increased to $74.6 billion in April from a revised $60.6 billion in March.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to jump to $75.2 billion from the $64.2 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The wider trade deficit came as the value of exports plunged by 3.6% to $249.0 billion, while the value of imports surged by 1.5% to $323.6 billion.