The gold price remains well supported today after yesterday’s stellar gains on the back of a less than convincing speech from The US Federal Reserve which left investors questioning the amount of rate hikes the central bank will deliver next year.
Although a rate hike in December is a forgone conclusion, the amount of rate hikes now in 2018 is in serious doubts after yesterday’s minutes meeting from the Fed where some board members noted that persistently low inflation was a major concern and they are resigned to the fact that it may stay lower for longer.
"The Fed has some inflation concerns and we don't know how it's going to be in the medium term. There is lot of uncertainty everywhere and you can see it in gold's rang bound movement." said John Sharma, an economist with National Australia Bank
The news left investors fleeing the US dollar which had its biggest fall in 5 months and into gold as further rate rises will be driven by positive data which many anticipate includes a pickup in inflation.
"Although the minutes seemed to tick a December hike as a done deal, traders took fright at their more 'data-driven' neutral stance into 2018," said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst with OANDA.
With interest rates in the US still at record lows and unable to boost inflation, the chances of gold moving higher have significantly increased as the market comes to terms that the Fed will be unable to hike rates much further out of fear of derailing the recovery in the US economy.
Although a rate hike in December is a forgone conclusion, the amount of rate hikes now in 2018 is in serious doubts after yesterday’s minutes meeting from the Fed where some board members noted that persistently low inflation was a major concern and they are resigned to the fact that it may stay lower for longer.
"The Fed has some inflation concerns and we don't know how it's going to be in the medium term. There is lot of uncertainty everywhere and you can see it in gold's rang bound movement." said John Sharma, an economist with National Australia Bank
The news left investors fleeing the US dollar which had its biggest fall in 5 months and into gold as further rate rises will be driven by positive data which many anticipate includes a pickup in inflation.
"Although the minutes seemed to tick a December hike as a done deal, traders took fright at their more 'data-driven' neutral stance into 2018," said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst with OANDA.
With interest rates in the US still at record lows and unable to boost inflation, the chances of gold moving higher have significantly increased as the market comes to terms that the Fed will be unable to hike rates much further out of fear of derailing the recovery in the US economy.