annual us inflation reading allows fed to wait for clarity from future economic data releases analyst gold prices moved lower on wednesday as a monthly reading on us consumer prices failed to provide a clear picture of the path for federal reserve interest rates the april data showed us consumer prices rose as expected while the annual consumer inflation rate was at its lowest in two years the us dollar weakened following the data only briefly providing support to dollardenominated gold prices us consumer prices rose 04  in april the labor department said wednesday that matched the increase expected by economists polled by the wall street journal over the past 12 months however consumer inflation increased 49 and thats down from a 5 yearonyear increase in march the annual inflation reading is below 5 for the first time in two years softness in the greenback followed the release of the data the ice us dollar index was down nearly 01 to 10154 after touching a low of 101215 in wednesday dealings weakness in the dollar is likely due to the admittance that while this data might not tell us enough about what the fed is thinking it at least provides some indication that the fed will not be pushed to raise interest rates even higher in a hurry said jameel ahmad chief analyst at comparebrokerio in a market update still anyone hoping that cpi data will provide guidance on the future outlook of us interest rates will have had their hopes dashed he said the inflation headline number wednesday allows the fed to continue to bide its time and wait for clarity from future economic data releases over the coming months fed policymakers will ultimately enjoy the patience afforded to continue to watch economic data before making any decisions over the narrative on the future monetary policy outlook ahead ahmad said gold futures gave up the gains in saw in the wake of the cpi data to trade decidedly lower wednesday chintan karnani director of research at insignia consultants told marketwatch that the cpi numbers do not confirm an interestrate pause in the june or july fed meetings traders were disappointed after they could not get a sure view on timing interest rate cut and interest rate pause  hence the profit taking said karnani thursdays us producer price numbers are likely to decide the fate for interest rates he said gold futures have seen some impressive gains in recent trading the mostactive june gold futures contract traded as high as 2056 on wednesday on thursday it traded as high as 208540 the highest intraday level since the record intraday high from aug 7 2020 at 208920 according to dow jones market data the move in gold is particularly inspired by the way in which buyers were able to defend the previous psychological resistance at 2000 as support during recent trading sessions said ahmad this provided a pat on the back to gold enthusiasts that the around 12 rally in the precious metal yeartodate still has potential fuel in the tank to continue driving further this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal