Weaker Despite Dovish FOMC Minutes

Gold is 0.4% lower in today’s Asia-Pac session, after closing broadly unchanged at $2512.56 on Wednesday.

• Expectations for the FOMC to begin easing policy on September 18 were reinforced by the BLS's downward revisions to nonfarm payrolls and dovish FOMC minutes. Lower rates are typically positive for gold, which doesn’t pay interest.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that US payroll growth in the year to March was preliminarily revised down by 818k or 68k per month.
• The July FOMC minutes signaled that participants were eyeing a cut in September, with "several" seeing it as "plausible" to cut already in July. There weren't many clues in the minutes on future monetary policy beyond that, with no mention of a potential >25bp cut.
• Focus turns to the KC Fed-hosted Jackson Hole economic symposium will be held Aug. 22-24, with Fed Chairman Powell speaking at 1000ET Friday morning.
• According to MNI’s technicals team, conditions remain bullish for the yellow metal after delivering an all-time high on Tuesday. Note that moving average studies remain in a bull-mode set-up and this continues to highlight a dominant uptrend. The focus is on a climb towards $2536.4 next, a Fibonacci projection.