The early parts of this week have been fairly quiet and subdued simply because the global marketplace is awaiting the conclusion of the latest FOMC meeting, scheduled for this afternoon. There have been plenty of data points for the market to pay attention to, such as upbeat corporate earnings reports, some poor economic data, and declining crude oil prices, but most of these factors have failed to really move gold or silver too drastically in any one direction.
Of course, with that being said, it is clear to see that gold and silver are losing some value today in the lead-up to the Fed’s post-meeting statement. The Dollar, on the other hand, is remaining mostly steady after declining slightly through the first two days of the week. While the greenback was seen declining against most of its rivals on Tuesday, against the Swedish Krona, the greenback made nice strides forward after the Swedish central bank announced that they would be cutting interest rates to near-0 levels.
All Eyes on the Fed and Their Post-Meeting Statement
All this week, and especially today, the eyes of the investing world have been firmly fixated on the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting. While it is generally agreed upon that the Fed will not be making any policy shifts anytime soon, most every investor from around the world wants to know when rates will be raised as well as by how much they will be raised by.
As it stands, the expectations are that we will not see rate hikes until sometime in the middle of 2015, at the earliest. The Fed, in past meetings and statements, has cited slowing growth in places like Europe and Asia as major contributing factors behind why they are not so quick to hike interest rates. The widespread belief amongst Fed members is that slowing economies in other parts of the world will eventually have a negative impact on the economy at home. Because of this, a majority of investors are expecting the Fed to simply reiterate the same statements they have been making since the end of August.
Other than that, there really isn’t too much for investors to mull over. Gold and silver spot values have fared mostly poor through the first few days of this week simply because the declining value of crude oil is bringing the whole raw commodities market down with it to some extent. Despite reports saying that physical demand for precious metals is on the up and up in Asia, crude oil’s decline is mostly limiting any upward movement. It will be interesting to see what type of impact the Fed’s post-meeting statement has on the spot values of precious metals come the end of today and into tomorrow.