The spot values of gold and silver have remained steady for much of the first two and a half days of the week, but that all might change come this afternoon. Though there has been plenty of data for investors to discuss and mull over, many of these data points have yielded little investor reaction simply because everyone is awaiting what the FOMC has to say in the wake of their meeting, which is set to wrap up sometime this afternoon.
US stocks have done well for much of the beginning parts of this week, simply due to upbeat earnings reports from big companies. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have been dealt some poor economic data from the US in the form of durable goods orders for September that declined by more than 1%, which is in stark contrast to the .5% increase expected by polled analysts. Normally, poor economic data would drive precious metals upward, but due to the continuously declining nature of crude oil prices, all of raw commodities have suffered.
The Eyes of the Market Shift Towards the FOMC and Their Meeting
As is the case every time the FOMC meets, the global marketplace has slowed down through the first two days of this week. Instead of making any major investment moves, investors are instead awaiting the post-meeting statement expected to be delivered sometime this afternoon. While the market has been expecting interest rate hikes in the US for some time now, it is now generally accepted that those rate hikes will come later rather than sooner. In the past few months, members of the Fed have reiterated time and time again that it is going to take some improvement on the part of Asian and European economies before rates at home are raised.
Though no one is expecting the Fed to make any moves today, most are hoping that some insight with regard to when rates will be raised will be delivered. In my opinion, I think the Fed will do nothing other than reiterate the same things they have been saying over the course of the past month or two, but as is always the case, anything could happen. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact, if any, the Fed’s post-meeting statement has on the value of precious metals.
With all of this being said, even the most precious metals-friendly post-meeting statement may not see spot values increase too dramatically. The reason for this is due to the fact that crude oil prices are continuing their downward shift and are bringing the wider market of raw commodities down with them. Experts are predicting that crude oil prices will fall even further so that too might not help precious metals at all.
