Gold recorded another strengthening at the close of trading on Thursday. These safe-haven assets continue to crawl despite the Fed again raising their interest rates.
As a result, gold managed to rise to reach 2081 levels during the Fed's interest rate hike before finally closing around the price of $ 2050 per troy ounce.
The announcement of the Fed's interest rate hike on Thursday early this morning had made gold prices soar to an all-time high of $2081. Markets expecting the policy as a final hike flocked to buy this commodity.
However, dovish sentiment that was considered less strong in the Fed's policy statement made gold's rally slightly restrained. In his post-announcement press conference, Powell has not given a clear direction.
Gold is Still Experiencing a Rally
It is especially on how the Fed's rate hikes will proceed. The current rate range could be nearing the end of the hiking cycle, but he also left open the possibility of a rate hike if needed.
Despite this uncertainty, gold prices continued to rally as a number of risks weighed on the US Dollar. First, the United States economy is facing a dilemma between high inflation rates and a banking crisis.
The surge of inflation requires tighter monetary policy, but it has sent financial markets tumultuous. That was following the collapse of major commercial banks.
Daniel Ghali of TD Securities is watching investors' concerns about the United States banking conditions. According to him, price turmoil related to the banking crisis shows that a number of traders are willing to enter to buy gold.
Bullish Force Pushes the Gold
Although commodity trend-followers seem to have maxed out in their long positions, discretionary traders still have ammunition to purchase this precious metal.
This is what seems to be happening to gold prices yesterday as it was said by Daniel Ghali. RJO Futures senior strategist Bob Haberkorn even believes that the bullish forces pushing gold above $2000 still hold up today.
Elsewhere, the Oil prices quite stable after it experienced three days of massive sell-offs. That was amid a concern that slowing economic growth in major consuming countries can depress demand.
The united states crude futures in the market was traded 0.1% higher at $68.67 a barrel. Meanwhile, the Brent contract rose 0.4% to $72.62 a barrel.
ECB did a 25bps Rate Hike
The European Central Bank early Thursday followed the Federal Reserve's lead by raising interest rates by 25 basis points. It was continuing a prolonged tightening of monetary policy.
The move happened lately marks a slowdown from a series of more aggressive 50-point hikes recently. However, the Governing Council also warned that inflation outlook continues to be at a really high position.
That was implying the further rate hikes. The tightening comes amid signs of slowing growth in Europe and America , while turmoil in that country banking sector threatens further economic activity.
Even China as the world's biggest crude importer, offered disappointing manufacturing activity data earlier in the week. This condition was suggesting the Asian giant's recovery from from the cocos problem before.
Additional Cut is Maybe Needed
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has a plan to support prices with production cuts. The amount will be more than 1 million barrels per day.
Based on that plan, it will began in early May. However, this did not work. Breaking below $70/bbl will be a special concern for OPEC+ in the future. That is why; talk of additional cuts is likely to develop.
It is especially if prices continue to fall towards this level for an extended period, just like what many experts thoughts. Moreover, it is around this level that the US government is likely to begin replenishing its strategic petroleum reserves, which could provide some support