Gold Sells Off As Fed Chair Powell Upbeat On US Economy; Downplays Inflation Concerns

New York (May 1)  Gold prices are selling off and have hit daily lows in afternoon dealings Wednesday. The yellow metal is feeling pressure as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is holding his post-FOMC press conference and is sounding positive on the U.S. economic outlook. On the inflation outlook, Powell somewhat alleviated trader concerns regarding low inflation, for which some FOMC members did express concern in the FOMC statement, when he said the present low inflation could be due to "transitory" factors. That statement may have pushed the U.S. dollar index higher and taken some of the dovish tone out of the reading by traders of the FOMC statement. June gold was last down $6.30 an ounce at $1,279.60.

By 3:40pm EST spot gold was lower by $4 at $1,276, while spot spot silver lost 1.6 at 14.68. Howee, spot platinum and palladium plunged more than 2%...each.

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