By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Wednesday morning over a strengthening dollar and cautious optimism over the latest U.S. stimulus measures.

Gold Futures were down 0.33% at $1,897 by 1:21 AM ET (5:21 AM GMT), reversing the 1-week high seen on Tuesday. The dollar inched up and stocks, which usually move inversely to the yellow metal, were mostly up during Wednesday’s Asian trade.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday raised hopes that the U.S. Congress would pass the latest $2.2 trillion fiscal stimulus bill proposed by Democrats the day before, saying that a deal with the Republicans could be possible by this week. Pelosi will sit down for further talks with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin later in the day.

However, with the package’s price tag still above what Republicans have publicly stated they would accept, some investors were doubtful that the bill would be passed by Congress in its current form before the Nov. 3 presidential elections.

On the election front, candidates Donald Trump, the incumbent president, and Joe Biden took park in the first of three presidential debates earlier in the day. The two discussed issues such as Trump’s leadership, the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy and taxes, with the debate descending into chaos at times and giving neither candidate a decisive advantage.

In Asia, Chinese data released earlier in the day affirmed the country’s continuing path towards economic recovery from COVID-19, with purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) for September staying above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction.

The manufacturing PMI was 51.5, beating the forecast 51.2 and August’s 51 readings and the non-manufacturing PMI was 55.9 against August’s 55.2, with the Caixin manufacturing PMI of 53 slightly under the forecast 53.1 and August’s 53.1 figures.

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