Gold is trading near monthly lows federal reserve Officials continued their hawkish comment but refrained from offering a solid indication of how big a potential rate hike would be in the near future.

This is the fifth straight monthly decline, the longest losing streak in four years Bloomberg. Spot gold traded near $1,723.17 an ounce after losing 2.4% in August.

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Comments from Fed officials: New York Fed boss John Williams said on Tuesday that interest rates will likely need to rise above 3.5% at some point to contain price pressures, according to Bloomberg. Richmond Fed president Thomas BarkinsAlso strike a similarly determined tone, it said.

Atlanta Fed boss Raphael Bostik said the duty to contain inflation was “unwavering” but also said he was ready to scale back the pace of increases if prices cooled, the report said.

federal reserve chair Jerome Powell hinted in his Jackson Hole speech last week that another unusually large hike may be in order next week Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting scheduled for the last week of September.