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Gold pushed above $1,300 and silver was up 1.4 percent at $18.58 an ounce after the Federal Reserve announced it will be leaving interest rates unchanged.
As Sébastien Lavoie, Chief Economist at Laurentian Bank Securities, puts it, “the Fed played it safe”, when they announced that interest rates will be left unchanged after a two-day policy meeting.
In a statement released after the meeting, the Federal Reserve stated that although there are signs an increase in federal funds is warranted, policy makers are stalling by waiting for “some further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives.”
The Fed’s statement was nearly the same as last September’s, as shown in The Wall Street Journal’s Fed Statement Tracker.
Analysts are not surprised by the Fed’s decison, and agree that a rate hike in December is imminent. Pantheon Macroeconomics’ Ian Shepherdson says, “[o]nly a shock—the election of [Donald] Trump, or an external geopolitical or market event—can now prevent a December hike.”
The last time the Federal Reserve hiked its rate target was in December 2015, and before then, June 2006.
Precious metals react positively
Gold pushed above $1,300, with spot gold rising to $1,307.76 an ounce–its highest since October 4. According to The Hightower Report, the world’s largest Gold ETF also saw gains as their holdings rose by 2.67 tonnes last Tuesday, November 1st. Another gold ETF, VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN (NASDAQ:UGLD) was up 62 percent year to-date, and 3 percent over the last 5 days.
Silver was up 1.4 percent at $18.58 an ounce, after reaching a high of $18.74. VelocityShares 3x Long Silver ETN (NASDAQ:USLV) was up 90 percent year to-date, and up 10 percent over the last 5 days. Another silver ETF, iShares Silver Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:SLV) was up 33 percent year to-date, and up 4 percent over the last 5 days.
Up next week are the US presidential elections but according to Bloomberg, gold will emerge a winner no matter who is proclaimed the next president. Stay tuned as we see how that plays out.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Pia Rivera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
