Gold and silver are both edging lower during the first half of the day on Wednesday as the market prepares for the latest FOMC minutes, scheduled to be made public this afternoon. After last week’s downbeat employment report for March, investors are more readily focusing on today’s FOMC minutes for some insight into the strength of the US economy, or at least what the Fed thinks of the US economy.
In other news, there have been a number of reports claiming that pro-Russian demonstrations throughout Ukraine are beginning to increase in number. The rise in unrest in the turmoil-ridden nation is only working to help gold and silver. Though there has not been too much violence as a result of recent demonstrations, it is definitely back on the forefront of investors’ attention.
FOMC Minutes Follow Poor Jobs Data
The biggest piece of news on the minds of investors last week was that of the payrolls data from March. Though the entire 5-day trading session was full of economic data, none of it was as important as the jobs figures. Because the payrolls data came just days after Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen spoke of the US job market’s strength, investors were expecting a minimum of 205,000 new payrolls added to the US economy in March. Much to the surprise of everyone, however, the jobs figures showed that only 192,000 payrolls were added to the economy last month.
Though this number does not fall too short of market expectations, it is unnerving that the jobs data was weak after high-ranking members of the Fed just recently spoke of the US employment sector’s strength. As a result of the weak jobs data, investors will be paying close attention to today’s most recent FOMC minutes.
Finally, it was reported yesterday that the IMF revamped its forecasts for economic growth of the duration of this year and all of 2015. In the IMF’s most recent forecast revisions they see the UK leading world economic growth over the next two years. Officially, the IMF is expecting the UK economy to grow by more than 2.5% both this year and next. The US wasn’t left out of the report either as the IMF labeled the United States an integral factor to worldwide economic growth and recovery.