Gold stages rebound as US dollar, Treasury yields slip

Gold prices gained on Wednesday, helped by a slight retreat in the dollar and lower U.S. bond yields as investors await a U.S. core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index report due later this week for interest rate clues.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was up 0.5% at $3,314.19 an ounce, as of 0040 GMT, after dropping more than 1% on Tuesday.
* U.S. gold futures rose 0.4% to $3,313.20.
* The dollar index fell 0.1% after a sharp rise in the previous session, making greenback-priced gold more attractive for other currency holders.
* U.S. Treasury yields declined as concerns over rising global government debt supply, which lifted bond yields last week, were partly eased by expectations that Japan could issue less longer-dated debt.
* On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump rolled back his threat to impose 50% tariffs on imports from the EU next month, restoring a July 9 deadline to allow for talks. This boosted risk sentiment in the wider financial markets.
* Data showed on Tuesday that U.S. consumer confidence snapped five straight months of declines and improved in May amid a truce in the trade war between Washington and Beijing.
* Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari on Tuesday called for keeping interest rates steady until there is more clarity on how higher tariffs affect inflation.
* Investors now look forward to U.S. PCE for April, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, on Friday.
* Gold imports to Switzerland from the U.S. jumped to the highest monthly level since at least 2012 in April after the exclusion of precious metals from U.S. import tariffs, Swiss customs data showed on Tuesday.
* Spot silver eased 0.1% to $33.27 an ounce, platinum was up 0.6% at $1,085.97 and palladium edged 0.1% lower to $977.09.