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2019.06.2515:03:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Higher Again

After rallying sharply amid rising geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainty earlier in the session, gold futures pared almost their entire gains on Tuesday as hopes of a rate cut in July faded.

Still, gold futures ended the session higher, extending recent gains.

The dollar moved higher after the Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said that an interest rate cut in July is not a done deal, even as he said that central bank officials are debating whether uncertainty over trade policy will cause the economy to slow and warrant rate cuts later this year.

The dollar rose to 96.36, gaining nearly 0.4% over previous close, before dropping to 96.20, still up with a notable gain of about 0.23%.

Gold futures for August ended up $0.50, or 0.04%, at $1,418.70 an ounce, after rising to a high of $1,442.90 an ounce, the highest close since end August 2013.

Silver futures for July ended down $0.077, at $15.300 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $2.7355 per pound, gaining $0.0300.

Powell underscored the independence of the central bank from political sway in guiding monetary policy. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump had renewed his attacks on Fed officials, likening them to a "stubborn child" for holding rates steady after last week's meeting.

Trump suggested that the Fed needed to cut rates in order to "make up for what other countries are doing against us," after other central banks loosened their monetary policy this month.

Geopolitical tensions have escalated further after the United States imposed new sanctions on Iran aimed at preventing some top Iranian officials from using the international banking system or any financial vehicles set up by European nations or other countries.

Sharply criticizing the new sanctions, Iran said the measures spell the "permanent closure" for diplomacy between the two nations.

In economic news today, a report from the Conference Board showed a substantial deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of June.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index tumbled to 121.5 in June from a downwardly revised 131.3 in May. Economists had expected the index to dip to 132.0 from the 134.1 originally reported for the previous month. This is the lowest level since the index hit 120.6 in September 2017.

A separate report from the Commerce Department also unexpectedly showed a steep drop in new home sales in the U.S. in the month of May.

The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 7.8% to an annual rate of 626,000 in May after tumbling by 3.7% to a revised rate of 679,000 in April.

Economists had expected new home sales to climb by 1% to a rate of 680,000 from the 673,000 originally reported for the previous month.

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