By Gina Lee
Gold was up on Wednesday morning in Asia, as it rallied from its initial drop of 0.2% earlier in the session.
Gold futures were up by 0.05% at $1,711.25 by 12:39 PM ET (5:39 AM GMT).
The U.S. Federal Reserve said overnight that the U.S. economy could possibly start its recovery from the economic impact of the virus in the second half of 2020. But it warned that growth is likely to be slow and uneven as the U.S. grapples with its worst depression in decades.
Even as some countries loosened their COVID-19 lockdowns at the beginning of the week, the fear of a second wave of the pandemics soured investors’ risk appetite.
Oil was down and stocks were mixed as investors sought a safe haven in the yellow metal.
The ongoing U.S.-China tensions also had investors on tenterhooks as they await China’s response to top U.S. officials’ claims that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab.
President Trump pressed China again for answers to the claims as the country came back from a five-day holiday.
