Gold futures end lower, give back some of Friday's gains

Gold futures settled with a loss on Monday, with prices giving back a portion of the more than 1% gain seen on Friday. Gold's Friday move higher was "tempered" as "risk aversion cooled off and the U.S. dollar caught a bid," said Stephen Flood, director of bullion services at GoldCore. "All eyes are on Friday's U.S. CPI release to gauge how inflation is trending, expect fireworks if a deterioration occurs," he said. "Investors are also keenly eying the Fed's meeting on December 14 & 15th to see how interest rate policy will adjust to inflation." February gold fell $4.40, or nearly 0.3%, to settle at $1,779.50 an ounce.

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