New York gold futures edged slightly lower on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement. COMEX gold for August delivery fell $2.40, or 0.06%, to settle at $4,036.30 per ounce. After the market close, the FOMC voted 9 to 3 to hold short-term interest rates steady at 3.50 to 3.75 percent, as expected. The three dissenting members who favored a quarter-point rate hike were Beth Hammack, president of the Cleveland Fed, Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Fed, and Lorie Logan, president of the Dallas Fed, reflecting concerns about inflation running above the Fed's 2 percent target for more than five years. The post-meeting statement was nearly unchanged from the prior one and remained consistent with the Fed's three rate cuts in the second half of 2025. Investors are watching key U.S. economic data this week, including weekly jobless claims, the advance estimate of second-quarter 2026 GDP, the June personal consumption expenditures price index, and the University of Michigan's July consumer sentiment index.