Gold futures finished with a loss on Tuesday, giving back much of what they gained a day earlier, as comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hinted that an interest-rate increase may be forthcoming from the Federal Reserve to keep the economy from overheating. Yellen does not set interest-rate policy at the Treasury, but she formerly led the Fed. Until last week, current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had “dashed all interest-rate hike expectations,” said Chintan Karnani, director of research at Insignia Consultants. Yellen may be preparing the markets for a June interest rate hike if U.S. economic growth continues to perform well in May, he said. June gold fell $15.80, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,776 an ounce.
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