Gold price (XAU/USD) drifts lower during the Asian session on Thursday, albeit finds some support near the $2,620 area and has now trimmed a part of its intraday losses. Wednesday's US macro data dump pointed to a still resilient US economy and stalled progress on inflation, suggesting that the Federal Reserve (Fed) might be cautious about further rate cuts. This, in turn, triggers a fresh leg up in the US Treasury bond yields, which helps revive the US Dollar (USD) demand and undermines the non-yielding yellow metal.
Meanwhile, the current market pricing indicates around 70% probability that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs at the December policy meeting. Moreover, expectations that Scott Bessent – US President-elect Donald Trump's US Treasury Secretary nominee – will restrain budget deficits might cap the upside for the US bond yields. This, along with concerns about Trump's threatened tariffs and geopolitical risks stemming from the worsening Russia-Ukraine conflict, offers some support to the safe-haven Gold price.