Gold set for weekly drop; traders await US inflation data
Silver headed for its worst week since April
US PCE data due at 1330 GMT
Investors await Trump to resume office - analyst
Updates with mid-session trading
By Rahul Paswan
Dec 20 (Reuters) -Gold prices rose on Friday, but were set for a weekly decline after the Federal Reserve signalled a slowdown in rate cuts next year, while focus shifted to a key U.S. inflation print due later in the day.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.5% at $2,606.19 per ounce, as of 0821 GMT, but has lost about 1.5% so far this week.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 was 0.5% higher at $2,620.60.
Gold is consolidating as "investors await Trump to resume office next year and the Fed will also go meeting by meeting, considering the data development and seeing what is part of Trump's trade policy," said Soni Kumari, a commodity strategist at ANZ.
Investors now await the core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, for further clues on the U.S. economic outlook.
The Fed cut rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, but the cautious note struck in its economic projections and expected slowdown of rate cuts pushed gold to its lowest level since Nov. 18.
Data showed on Thursday that the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter, while jobless claims also slipped more than anticipated, reinforcing expectations that the central bank will take a cautious approach to policy easing.
A slightly more hawkish set of the Fed's regional bank presidents will become voters on its rate-setting panel in 2025, raising the chance that any further rate cuts next year could spur more dissents like the one seen from the head of the Cleveland Fed.
Higher rates dull the appeal of the non-yielding asset.
According to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao, spot gold XAU= may retest support at $2,582 per ounce.
Spot silver XAG= gained 0.1% to $29.06 per ounce but was headed for its worst week since April.
Platinum XPT= dropped 0.2% at $921.50 and palladium XPD= rose 0.5% to $910.63. Both the metals were poised for weekly losses.
Spot gold price in USD per oz https://reut.rs/41Khg2P
Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Eileen Soreng and Varun H K
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