Gold Down Ahead of FOMC

Comex gold futures prices are lower in early U.S. trading Tuesday, pressured on chart-related selling and weak-long liquidation ahead of a very important U.S. central bank meeting that begins Tuesday. Comex August gold last traded down $7.90 at $1,375.20 an ounce. Spot gold was last quoted down $9.30 at $1,376.00. July Comex silver last traded down $0.068 at $21.69 an ounce.

Asian and European stock markets were mixed in quieter dealings overnight as the market place anxiously awaits the results of the two-day meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) that begins Tuesday morning and concludes Wednesday afternoon. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will also hold a press conference following the FOMC meeting. Traders and investors will be looking for fresh information from the Fed on if, when and by what degree it will start to wind down its quantitative easing programs that have been in place for several years.

The keener uncertainty ahead of this particular FOMC meeting arises from the wide range of expert opinions on just what path the U.S. central bank will take in its monetary policy. It appears the slight majority of market watchers believe the Fed will stand pat for the time being on its monetary policy. However, recent slightly better U.S. economic data has led to ideas the Fed will soon begin to lay the groundwork for its eventual exit from quantitative easing of monetary policy.

via Kitco

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza