Although in late afternoon gold is off its highs for the day, the yellow precious metal is up nearly 1%. Today, there was no headwind from the dollar; in fact, a lower dollar helped gold gain and keep traction.

The precious metals digested the news gleaned from the FOMC’s minutes and, for most of the morning and into early afternoon, the metals took heart.

Imagine a game of tug of war but with four opposing forces, four ropes and an indecisive referee. That sums up what we experienced today.