Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold added 0.2% to close near $1,230 on momentum from this week's dovish rate hike from the Fed. The metal finished the week 2.4% higher for its first weekly win since the end of February.

The U.S. central bank voted to raise rates by a quarter-point this week, as expected, but accompanied the hike with signals that future hikes will still be slow to come. The so-called dot-plot, which charts prospective changes in monetary policy, remained unchanged at three hikes per year through 2019. Traders were expecting a more aggressive schedule of tightening given the hawkish jawboning by prominent Fed members in recent weeks.

The dollar touched a five-week low today as traders unwound long bets because of the Fed's dovish tone. A weaker dollar supports gold and other commodities denominated in it for international trade by making them less expensive overseas.

The outlook for rising global inflation also supported gold this week as China joined the U.S. in raising rates and both the UK and EU hinted at tightening monetary policy to head off higher prices.

The other precious metals were higher for the day and week. Silver picked up 0.1% for a weekly rise of 2.6%. Platinum added 0.5% on the day and 2/7% on the week. Palladium jumped 1.3% today and 4.3% this week.

At the Comex close: April gold gained $2.60 to $1,229.70; May silver added almost 3 cents, to $17.36; April platinum rose $5 to $963.40; and June palladium jumped $10.15 to $776.80 an ounce.