Gold futures post lowest settlement in more than 2 years

Gold futures declined on Thursday to settle at their lowest price since April 2020. “Momentum and sentiment is very bearish” on expectations of a continued aggressive pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve at their meetings in November and December, said Chintan Karnani, director of research at Insignia Consultants. The Fed is expected to deliver its next interest-rate hike on Wednesday, with expectations largely pointing to a benchmark interest rate increase of 75 basis points or more. December gold GCZ22, -2.02% fell $31.80, or 1.9%, to settle at $1,677.30 an ounce on Comex. That was the lowest most-active contract finish since April 3, 2020 and largest one-day percentage decline since July 5 of this year, according to Dow Jones Market Data.