• Gold price is seen consolidating near the top end of a short-term trading range. 
• Fed rate-cut uncertainty holds back traders from placing fresh directional bets.
• The USD is undermined by Tuesday’s weaker US Retail Sales and lends support.

Gold price (XAU/USD) struggles to capitalize on the previous day's bounce from the vicinity of the $2,300 mark and oscillates in a narrow band during the Asian session on Wednesday. The precious metal is currently placed around the $2,330 area, or the top boundary of a short-term trading range held over the past one-and-half-week or so as traders seek clarity about the likely timing when the Federal Reserve (Fed) will start cutting interest rates. 

The US central bank adopted a more hawkish stance at the end of the June policy meeting and forecasted only one interest rate cut in 2024. The markets, however, are still pricing in the possibility of two rate cuts this year amid signs that inflation in the US is subsiding. Moreover, weaker US Retail Sales data released on Tuesday pointed to signs of exhaustion among US consumers and lifted bets for a rate cut in September and another in December. 

Meanwhile, expectations that the Fed will begin its rate-cutting cycle soon triggered the overnight fall in the US Treasury bond yields, which keeps the US Dollar (USD) bulls on the defensive and acts as a tailwind for the non-yielding Gold price. That said, the underlying bullish tone across the global equity markets is holding back traders from placing aggressive bullish bets around the safe-haven XAU/USD and should cap any meaningful upside.