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General Precious Metals
Gold prices standing strong as Fed minutes show central bank is in no hurry to do anything
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are holding on to strong gains heading into the weekend as the minutes of December’s Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting confirmed that the central bank is looking to stand pat for the foreseeable future.
The minutes showed that many committee members expect that interest rate will remain at their current low levels as long as economic activity remains broadly consistent with economic outlook.
“A number of participants agreed that maintaining the current stance of monetary policy would give the Committee some time to assess the full effects on the economy of its policy decisions and communications over the course of this year along with other information bearing on the economic outlook,” the minutes said. “Participants also discussed how maintaining the current stance of policy for a time could be helpful for cushioning the economy from the global developments that have been weighing on economic activity and for returning inflation to the Committee’s symmetric objective of 2 percent.”
Although the central bank is expected to hold rates steady through 2020, the committee also acknowledge risks to the economy. The minutes showed that some participants noted downside risks to central bank’s outlook.
“While many saw the risks as tilted somewhat to the downside, some risks were seen to have eased over recent months,” the minutes said.