Precious metals are moving slightly lower ahead of the all-important FOMC meeting’s conclusion. Through the first few days of this week, investors have had plenty of data to mull over, but most of it has failed to really move markets considerably. The reason for this being that investors the world over want to hear what the Fed has to say in the wake of their most recent meeting.
The US Dollar has steadied today, but spent most of the first two days of the week declining against rivals, especially the Japanese Yen. Yesterday, however, the Swedish central bank’s decision to slash interest rates to near-0 levels caused the Swedish Krona to depreciate considerably and helped limit some of the greenback’s losses. The widespread belief is that today’s post-meeting statement will see the Fed reiterate much of the same things it has said over the course of the past few months, and for that reason, it is likely that the greenback will be able to regain a footing in the market.
All Eyes on the Federal Reserve of the United States
As is most often the case, the eyes of the investing world will continue to be firmly fixated upon the US Federal Open Market Committee as their two-day meeting draws to a close sometime in the next few hours. In case you have been living under a rock for the past few months, investors are so interested in the Fed simply due to the fact that they want to find out more information with regard to when and to what degree the FOMC will decide to raise interest rates.
At present, the market is certain that the Fed will eventually raise interest rates, though with each passing week the timeline with regard to when they will raise rates keeps being pushed back. Now, I would be surprised to see rate hikes happen anytime before the Summer of 2015. With that said, however, the hope is that today’s post-meeting statement will shed some light on whether or not the Fed wants to speed the process of rate hikes up, or if they are going to continue being intent on waiting it out and waiting for global economic conditions to improve.