Gold Extends Drop With Silver Before Fed Monetary-Policy Meeting: Gold fell for a second day before the Federal Reserve meets to assess a pledge to keep borrowing costs low for a considerable time and provide guidance on the outlook for monetary policy. Silver, platinum and palladium declined. Bullion for immediate delivery dropped as much as 0.7 percent to $1,213.52 an ounce and traded at $1,219.35 at 3:10 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal climbed 2.5 percent last week, the most since the period to Oct. 10, as the dollar declined and global stocks tumbled amid a slump in energy prices. The Fed meets Dec. 16-17 to debate the pace of raising borrowing costs after holding rates near zero since 2008 to boost growth. Paul Krugman, the economist and 2008 Nobel laureate, said at the weekend that policy makers are unlikely to raise interest rates in 2015 as they struggle to spur inflation amid sluggish global economic growth. Gold remains 1.5 percent higher this year after slumping 28 percent in 2013. “The key to gold’s direction will be the Fed’s language this week,” said Sun Yonggang, a Shanghai-based macroeconomic strategist at Everbright Futures Co. “Precious metals have been resilient as the dollar’s rally paused.” Fed Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said Dec. 8 there were dangers in dropping the “considerable time” phrase, even after good news on job creation, while Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said Dec. 2 officials wouldn’t simply remove the commitment without replacing it with something else. Gold Positioning Gold for February delivery lost 0.2 percent to $1,220 an ounce on the Comex, after climbing 2.7 percent last week, the biggest gain since June. The net-long position in New York futures and options rose for a fourth week in the period to Dec. 9, the longest stretch of increases since July. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed at 1,116.54. The gauge, which fell 0.6 percent last week for the first loss since October, is 9.5 percent higher in 2014 after rising to a five-year high on Dec. 8. Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest bullion-backed exchange-traded product, were unchanged on Dec. 12 after a three-day expansion that was the longest such run since August. Silver for immediate delivery declined 0.4 percent to $16.9654 an ounce after gaining for two weeks. Spot platinum decreased 0.3 percent to $1,226.25 an ounce after posting the first back-to-back weekly climb since July. Palladium retreated 0.4 percent to $811.75 an ounce.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 07:18:18 +0000
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