By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Wednesday morning in Asia, easing as the was boosted by hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials, and U.S. Treasury yields hit multi-year highs.

They were at $1,923 as of 11:56 ET (03:56 GMT) and had fallen 0.2% by the close. As the Fed works to reduce its massive balance sheet, the dollar, which is usually inversely related to gold, edged higher on Wednesday, reaching a nearly two-year high.

Esther George, Kansas City Fed president said that she is open to interest rates increasing by half a percent. Fed Governor Esther George stated that she expects a mix of rate increases and a quick balance sheet runoff in order to get the U.S. Monetary Policy to be “more neutral” by 2022. Further tightening will follow.

Other Fed policymakers will also be speaking throughout the week. They will start with Patrick Harker from Philadelphia Fed later in day. Raphael Bostic and Charles Evans, Chicago Fed Presidents, will each speak at separate events on Wednesday.

Investors also await the minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting, which will be released later in the day. These minutes may provide insight into the Fed’s pace for increasing interest rates and tightening quantitatively.

It will also announce its policy decision Friday.

U.S. Treasury Yields set multi-year record highs during this session. The Fed’s plan to unwind its balance sheet is the central focus. However, longer-term yields are moving more quickly and have partly reversed some of the U.S. curve’s recent inversions.

On Wednesday, U.S. officials and their allies discussed the possibility of imposing further sanctions against Russia. The latest sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 are due to reports of civilian killings in northern Ukraine, described as “war crimes” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Other precious metals saw a 0.1% decline and a 0.3% decrease, with $2,237 being flat.