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.