Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold edged down 0.2% to close under $1,728 ahead of the conclusion to the Fed's two-day meeting. The metal rallied sharply to as high as $1,748 in electronic trade after the central bank reaffirmed its long-term commitment to easy money policies.

The Fed left policy unchanged and reiterated its intention to keep interest rates near zero through 2023. While acknowledging recent improvements in employment and economic activity, and projecting faster growth of 6.5% this year, the post-meeting policy statement emphasized that many sectors of the economy "remain weak."

The currency markets have been speculating that the Fed would signal an early rate hike, pricing in one in 2022 and three in 2023. Bond yields had risen sharply in recent weeks as traders bet the Fed would be moved to tighten because of rising wholesale and consumer prices.

Today's statement laid waste to those bets.

Treasury yields pulled back from highs after the Fed made clear that it sees rising inflation as transient and nothing to worry about. Lower yields support gold by reducing the opportunity cost for holding it instead on bonds.

The dollar fell 0.5% against major rivals after the Fed's statement was released. A falling dollar lifts gold and other commodities by making them less expensive in other currencies.

The other precious metals were mixed in regular trading. Silver and palladium added 0.2% and 1.9%, respectively, while platinum fell 1.6%.

At the Comex close: April gold rose $3.80 to $1,727.10; May silver picked up 6 cents to $26.06; April platinum dropped $19.80 to $1,199.30; and June palladium rose $46.40 to $2,538.30 an ounce.