Gold prices fell below $1,750 an ounce on Thursday, scalped by the scythe of U.S. bond yields after the Federal Reserve said it will likely end its pandemic-related stimulus support for the American economy by mid-2022 and embark on a rate hike from end of next year. U.S. gold futures’ most active contract, December, settled down $29, or 1.6%, at $1,749.80 per ounce on New York’s Comex, after a session low at $1,745.95. It was the second time in a week that gold had lost about 2% or more in response to the potential impact from Fed changes to its stimulus and rate hike. December gold had traded to as high as $1,788.25 on Wednesday before the central bank laid out its purported timetable for ending its monthly bond buying of $120 billion and rate hike from the current zero to 0.25%. Gold particularly came under pressure on Thursday after yields on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note hit above 1.4% for the first time since July. The yield is an indicator of market expectations about real inflation and how quickly the Fed will have to react to curb pressures. Fed Chair Jay Powell at the conclusion of the central bank’s monthly policy meeting on Wednesday repeated his mantra that inflation was trending above the Fed’s target of 2% per annum due to the higher costs of doing business in a pandemic-constrained economy.