(Kitco News) – The gold market is struggling to hold the critical psychological level at $1,820 an ounce as it appears inflation pressures could have peaked with producer prices falling more than expected in December.
Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department said its Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.2% in December following November’s rise of 0.8%; the data was weaker than expected with economists’ forecasting an increase of 0.4%.
For the yea headline producer prices rose to another record high, hitting 9.7%, “the largest calendar-year increase since data were first calculated in 2010,” the report said. Economists were expecting to see an annual rise of 9.8%.
Meanwhile core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices rose 0.5%, following November’s increase of 0.7%. Core PPI rose in line with expectations.
Annual core inflation rose 8.3%, the report said.
The gold market is seeing little movement following the latest inflation data. Spot gold prices last traded at $1,819 an ounce, down 0.36% on the day.
Adam Button, chief currency strategist at Forexlive.com, said that although inflation pressures eased in December, he doesn’t expect this trend to be sustainable.
“This is a mixed back but the thing to focus on is probably the slowing pace of monthly rises. Though with the way oil and metals have rallied this week, I don’t know if that will last.