Oil prices fall, gold awaits Fed decision

Stalled recovery

Oil prices are slipping again today after recovering strongly from the lows over the last couple of days. There's still a lot of lost ground to make up which may highlight the apprehension behind the recovery as well as the potential longer-term consequences for the economy.

Time will tell how significant an impact that will have but the fact that we're already seeing profit-taking isn't a great signal. That said, we're also seeing the recovery in stock markets stalling ahead of the Fed decision so perhaps this is having a similar impact on crude as we await their assessment of the situation.

Pause ahead of the Fed

We're also seeing a pause in the gold correction ahead of the Fed later in the day. It's gone from a rare foray above $2,000 to pulling back almost 4% while remaining well above its pre-banking crisis lows. A hawkish Fed could see it extend the decline, with $1,900 being the next big test below, followed by $1,860.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar: www.marketpulse.com/economic-events/