Gold steadied after posting the biggest weekly loss in 15 months as the Federal Reserve’s hawkish shift damped reflation bets.
Inflation risks may warrant the U.S. central bank beginning raising interest rates next year, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Friday. His comments came after last week’s Fed meeting where officials signaled monetary policy tightening could start earlier than expected, with Chair Jerome Powell saying that the Fed would begin a discussion about scaling back bond purchases used to support financial markets and the economy during the pandemic.
Bullion has been weighed down by concerns over tighter monetary policy, although Powell cautioned that discussions about raising interest rates would be “highly premature.” He’s due to testify at a House Subcommittee hearing on the Fed’s pandemic emergency lending and its asset purchase programs Tuesday. The yield on 10-year Treasuries extended declines.
“Gold may be temporarily oversold and some investors are taking this opportunity to buy the dips,” said Margaret Yang, a strategist at DailyFX. “However, prices may be vulnerable to further pullback if the Fed signals a firm stance on tapering.”
