Gold prices dropped slightly on January 10 morning, as market players are waiting for the US inflation data for the year, as well as a speech by the head of the Federal Reserve System (FRS) Jerome Powell, Report informs referring to the auction data.

February gold futures on the New York Comex dropped $1.65, or 0.09%, to $1,876.15 a troy ounce. March silver futures fell 0.82% to $23.675 an ounce.

The annual inflation statistics in the US is scheduled for January 12. Analysts predict a continued slowdown in consumer price growth to 6.5% in the past year from 7.1% a month earlier. Thus, the indicator will continue to decline after reaching a peak of 9% per annum in June. This affects the expectations of changes in the policy of the Fed, which, due to high inflation, consistently increases the refinancing rate.

According to CME Group, 78.7% of experts expect a new increase in the discount rate in February by 0.25 percentage points, to 4.5-4.75% per annum.

Also, later on January 10, Powell will give a speech, which may give the markets signals about the regulator’s monetary policy. The actions of the FRS, in turn, strongly influence the dollar exchange rate and, in general, the global financial markets, of which trading in gold futures is also a part.