Update: Gold Eases Off a Record High as the U.S. Releases an Incomplete November Inflation Report

02:00 PM EST, 12/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates prices.)

Gold edged down from a record high midafternoon Thursday after the dollar and treasury yields weakened after the United States released incomplete data showing inflation slowed in November.

Gold for February delivery was last seen down US$4.60 to US$4,369.30 per ounce, after closing at a record a day earlier, buoyed by rising geopolitical risk and high physical demand from central banks and exchange-traded funds.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday reported the November Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a 2.7% annualized rate in November, down from 3.0% in September, prior to the U.S. government shutdown, and under the consensus estimate for a rise of 3.1%, according to FactSet. Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy, rose 2.6%, down from 3.0% two months earlier, and below the 3.0% consensus estimate.

While slowing inflation and a weakening labor market could increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue lowering interest rates, the report is missing key data, casting some doubt on its usefulness.

"Garbage US inflation data from the BLS will cover the month of November. We'll only get the y/y rates, no m/m measures, because there is going to be incomplete data for the month of October and hence no real ability to calculate m/m changes ... They missed the opportunity to collect the October data due to the government shutdown," Derek Holt, Head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank, noted.

The dollar rose following the CPI report, with the ICE dollar index last seen up 0.08 points to 98.45. Treasury yields also fell, with the U.S. two-year note last seen paying 3.483%, down 1.0 basis points, while the yield on the 10-year note was down 3.5 points to 4.128%.

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