Gold prices are trading cautious and steady ahead of the Fed’s interest rate decision due later today as markets wait to see if the central bank announces a highly anticipated 0.25% cut in interest rates. At the time of writing, GOLD is trading at a little above $1,488.

Federal fund futures expect a 94% likelihood of a rate cut being announced at the end of today’s monetary policy meeting. This would be the third rate cut this year, after 0.25% rate cuts in July and September.

Gold previously rose above the $1,500 level on the back of escalating US-China trade tensions, but had started sliding lower a few weeks ago after the high level trade talks in Washington when US President Donald Trump announced a “Phase 1” trade deal was being worked out. There was a high expectation that US and Chinese presidents would sign this deal at the upcoming APEC summit in Chile during mid-November. However, on Tuesday, a US administration official stated that it could take more time to put together the deal.

Gold also ticked higher on Tuesday following the release of US CB consumer confidence data, which showed that the consumer confidence index had declined to 125.9 in October from 126.3 in September. Economists had expected the consumer confidence to rise to 128 instead during this period.