2020.04.2818:48:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower For 3rd Straight Day

Gold prices drifted lower for a third straight session amid an increase in risk sentiment after reports said several coronavirus hot spots in Europe, and some states in the U.S. are set to reopen businesses over the next few days.

However, the yellow metal's downside was somewhat halted after a report from the Conference Board showed a sharp deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of April.

The dollar's recover from lower levels too supported the safe-haven metal a bit. The dollar index, which dropped to 99.45 in Asian trading rallied to 99.80 later on in the session, limiting its loss to less than 0.15%.

Gold futures for June ended down $1.60, or less than 0.1%, at $1,722.20 an ounce, well off the day's low of $1,704.10.

Silver futures for July shed about $0.013 at $15.328 an ounce, while Copper futures for July ended little changed at $2.3455 per pound.

The report released by the Conference Board said consumer confidence in the U.S. deteriorated significantly in the month of April, although there was an improvement in consumer expectations.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index plunged to 86.9 in April after tumbling to a downwardly revised 118.8 in March. Economists had expected the index to plummet to 90.0 from the 120.0 originally reported for the previous month.

The steep drop by the headline index came as the present situation index showed a record nosedive to 76.4 in April from 166.7 in March.

Consumers saying current business conditions are "good" slumped to 20.8% from 39.2%, while those climbing conditions are "bad" spiked to 45.2% from 11.7%.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will announce its monetary policy tomorrow. Investors look for the bank's forward guidance with regard to rates and other monetary measures.

The European Central Bank's policy statement is due on Thursday. The ECB is widely expected to leave its Quantitative Easing program unchanged.