Precious metals spot values are not partaking in all that much price action during the early morning hours of Wednesday and the marketplace is generally a lot quieter than normal. The reason for this, however, is easy to explain and can be credited to the whole of the marketplace waiting to hear what the FOMC has to say in their post-meeting statement. Though things are quiet as of the writing of this post, both the rest of the day and the rest of the week are shaping up like they will quite exciting.
On the geopolitical front, the ceasefire agreement reached between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian military forces appears to still be holding. With almost no fighting taking place across Ukraine’s Eastern half, and Russian troops back on their side of the border, the country is a whole lot calmer now than at any other point over the past 3 months or so. Unfortunately for precious metals, the continued peace in Ukraine has taken away an underlying source of bullish support. It will be interesting to see just how long this ceasefire lasts, because, as we all know, Ukraine is a powder-keg and can blow its top at any given point in time.
Investors Await FOMC Meeting’s Conclusion
Now in its second day, the FOMC meeting is continuing to draw the attention of investors from all over the world. Even though no one from the Fed has made any public remarks quite yet, some investors are seeming to be placing their bets a little early. Judging from the last few days’ movements by precious metals and US equities, it seems as though a small cross-section of voters are under the impression that the Fed will announce that interest rates will not be touched for some time yet. Though there isn’t much concrete evidence to back this up, it seems like a decently safe bet to make at this point.
Still, investors will continue to keep their eyes and ears peeled as the rest of the day wears on. The meeting itself is expected to wrap up at about 2 PM EST today and Janet Yellen is expected to address the media no more than an hour after the meeting’s conclusion. It will be Janet Yellen’s words that the market cares about the most as almost anything she says stands the chance of moving markets in one direction or another.
Tomorrow will bring about Scotland’s referendum on independence, and the outcome of that vote will also be of particular importance to investors. All in all, we should be gearing up for a fairly busy last 2 and a half days of the week.