(Kitco News) - The gold market continues to hold on to the $1,800 handle even in the face of a fairly resilient consumer as sentiment picks up in December.
Friday, the University of Michigan said the preliminary reading of its Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 59.1, down from November’s revised reading of 56.8. The data beat expectations as consensus forecasts were calling for a roughly unchanged reading.
The gold market is not seeing much reaction to the latest disappointing economic data as it holds sold gains heading into the weekend. February gold futures last traded at $1,810.60 an ounce, up 0.51% on the day.
Some market analysts are actually looking past the report’s headline number and instead have focused on consumer inflation expectations. The report said that consumers expect inflation to rise 4.6% by next year. While inflation is expected to remain elevated, this latest reading is the lowest since September 2021.
At the same time Consumers said that they expect inflation to rise 3% in the next five years, which is unchanged from November’s estimate.
According to some economists, well-anchored inflation expecations will provide the Federal Reserve some comfort as it looks to slow the pace of interest rate hikes through the first half of 2023.
