Why is gold sliding again?

Today’s 2% fall means that gold has now given up most of its price gains from earlier this year. This is perhaps surprising given the ongoing uncertainty over Greece and the conflict in Ukraine, but for now the markets appear to be paying more attention to the prospect that the Fed will start to hike US interest rates in the summer. While we continue to expect a first Fed move in June, we still see more positives than negatives over the year as a whole – especially if the crisis in Greece escalates further.