Gold prices were little changed near a three-and-a-half-month high during European morning hours on Monday, as market players looked ahead to U.S. President Donald Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday for further details on his promises of tax reform, deregulation and infrastructure spending.

Investors also looked ahead to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday for further hints on the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.

Comex gold futures dipped $1.35, or about 0.1%, to $1,256.85 a troy ounce by 3:05AM ET (08:05GMT), just shy of the prior session's high of $1,261.20, a level not seen since November 10. Spot gold was steady at $1,256.10 per ounce.

President Donald Trump will make his first major address to Congress on Tuesday. Investors are hopeful he will shed light on his economic agenda, most notably tax reform.

Beyond tax reform, investors will be eager to learn more about Trump's plans for repealing the Affordable Care Act, reducing regulations on businesses and increasing infrastructure spending.

Analysts warned that market sentiment could take a hit if Trump's plans look slow to execute or are overly vague.

President Trump has been credited with being a major catalyst behind the stock market's impressive rally in recent weeks, although he has yet to outline his economic policies in detail.

This week is also peppered with a handful of Fed appearances, most importantly Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Friday, as investors look for further insight on interest rate hikes ahead of the central bank's March meeting.

In addition, market players will keep an eye out on a revised reading of fourth-quarter U.S. growth data on Tuesday to gauge the strength of the economy.

Besides the GDP report, this week's calendar also features U.S. data on durable goods orders on Monday, consumer confidence on Tuesday, personal consumption expenditures and ISM manufacturing on Wednesday, weekly jobless claims on Thursday followed by the ISM non-manufacturing survey on Friday.

A recent string of solid data reinforced the view that the U.S. economy is sufficiently robust to warrant higher interest rates in the months ahead.

Last week, minutes from the Fed's latest meeting showed policymakers thought it may be appropriate to raise interest rates again "fairly soon", although it gave no firm signal on the timing of its next rate move.

Fed fund futures priced in about a 25% chance of a rate hike in March, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool. Odds of a May increase was seen at 52%, while June odds were at around 70%.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 101.05 in London morning trade, not far from Friday's one-week low of 100.64.