COMEX Gold is facing its biggest weekly decline since January due to major central banks’ rate hikes and markets pushing back against rate cuts. Swaps show that not even a single 25-point rate cut is expected for 2023. Hawks like ECB and BOE increasing rates have led to easing of the dollar index and rising yields, which in turn cause an opportunity cost to holding gold, as a non-yielding asset. Despite recent comments by Atlanta President Raphael Bostic and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee on inflation, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and two Federal Reserve policymakers emphasised the importance of fighting inflation and the need to raise interest rates.