Following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep rates flat, gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) and SPDR Gold MiniShares (NYSEArca: GLDM) gained as the dollar fell.
In move that was widely anticipated by most market experts, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday elected to keep rates unchanged, holding its policy rate in a range between 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent. In addition, the central bank alluded to no more rate hikes for the rest of 2019 after initially forecasting two.
“The U.S. economy is in a good place,” said Powell. “We will continue to use our monetary policy tools to help keep it there. The jobs market is strong, showing healthier wage gains and prompting many people to join or remain in the workforce. The unemployment rate is near historic lows and inflation remains near our 2 percent goal.”
The capital markets initially expected rates to remain steady after the central bank spoke in more dovish tones following the fourth and final rate hike for 2018 last December. Prior to the announcement, the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool was expecting a 98.7 percent chance that rates would remain steady.
“We continue to expect that the American economy will continue to grow at a solid pace in 2019 although likely lower than the very strong pace in 2018,” said Powell. “We believe our current policy stance is appropriate.”
In the video below, gold should benefit on the back of weakening equities, and should the next resistance level be broken–$1,374 an ounce should be the next target, this according to Gary Wagner, editor of TheGoldForecast.com.
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