Gold

This has been yet another week in which events transpired that profoundly influenced the financial landscape. It seems as though volatility and uncertainty have become intrinsic outcomes of statements recently made by those that run our country.

Gold futures started off the day trading under enormous pressure overseas, which continued during the morning trading session in New York. These depressed prices were in tandem with falling stock prices here in the United States.

Yesterday’s testimony by Jerome Powell, the recently appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve, significantly underlined the fact that we are now deeply immersed in a period of quantitative normalization.

In his first testimony to the Congress, Jerome Powell, the newly appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that the economy was in fact normalizing. As such, he made it clear that in next month’s FOMC meeting each member will reevaluate the current monetary policy as it reflects upon the number of interest rate hikes this year.

Although trading well off of highs achieved earlier in the trading session, gold is moderately higher as traders await Jerome Powell’s first testimony to the House and Senate committees this week.

Today the Federal Reserve released its “Monetary Policy Report” to members of the Senate and House of Representatives. The summary indicated that the economy and the labor market continue to grow, while inflation remains below their long-term objective of 2%.

Gold traders witnessed a return to calmer waters as the wild price swings from yesterday’s release of January’s FOMC meeting minutes have subsided.

Traders and investors witnessed extreme volatility characterized by strong price swings taking gold prices both moderately higher as well as moderately lower in trading today.

In a time span of only 70 minutes, gold prices fluctuated between a seven-dollar net gain followed by a six-dollar decline in prices.

Gold traded dramatically lower as a direct result of both selling pressure and a stronger U.S. dollar, which began after the conclusion of the three-day holiday yesterday. As of 2:30 PM Eastern standard time, April gold futures are currently down $23.20 (-1.72%) and fixed at $1,333 per ounce.

The Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, begins today and formally initiates the Year of the Dog. Trading was quiet in Asia as markets closed in observance of this holiday.