Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Monday said the U.S. economy is in "solid shape" and that more interest rate cuts can continue if the economy continues to evolve as expected.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was focused on bringing rates down to a level that neither spurs nor slows economic activity, though he didn’t say that necessarily needed to occur hastily.

Gold prices were hovering below recent record peaks on Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve chair tempered expectations for more substantial interest rate cuts this year, with investors looking forward to a series of labour data this week for further insights.