Gold and silver ETFs jumped Thursday after the Federal Reserve said it will expand its bond-buying program by purchasing more agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion a month.
This is the third round of bond purchases or quantitative easing from the Fed, known as QE3.
The central bank also extended its pledge to keep the federal funds rate near zero at least through the middle of 2015.
Precious metal ETFs rallied Thursday as further monetary easing from the Fed is seen as inflationary and bearish for the U.S. dollar.
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) were up about 2% and 4%, respectively, after the Fed announcement.