02:00 PM EDT, 06/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates prices.)

Gold held steady mid-afternoon on Wednesday ahead of the afternoon end of the two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve's policy committee that is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

Gold for August delivery was last seen down US$1.50 to US$3,405.40 per ounce.

The CME FedWatch tool sees an 99.9% probability the Federal Open Market Committee will leave rates unchanged. However easing U.S. inflation and an economy that is slowing under President Trump's capricious trade policies are boosting hopes that rates will be cut later this year.

"The market seems to be expecting almost nothing from this FOMC meeting, only that the Fed will adjust its dot-plot for this year to reflect two rate cuts. The market can't take any of the Fed economic projections seriously and should only focus on the dot plot, given the massive uncertainties generated by Trump 2.0," John Hardy, global head of macro strategy at Saxo Bank noted.

Safe-haven demand is offering support for the metal, with Israel and Iran continuing to trade attacks as reports say the United States is considering entering the conflict in order to end Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons.

The dollar dropped, supportive for commodities priced in the metal. The ICE dollar index was last seen down 0.07 points to 98.74. Treasury yields also eased, with the U.S. two-year note last seen paying 3.43%, down 1.9 basis points, while the yield on the 10-year note was down 1.6 points to 4.372%.