Gold Siilver Reports – Gold Investors Weigh `Dove’ Powell for Fed Chief as Prices Hold – Gold held gains as investors contemplated the prospect of Jerome Powell taking the top job at the Federal Reserve.
Bullion for immediate delivery traded 0.1 percent higher after earlier rising as much as 0.5 percent to $1,281.49 an ounce, the highest in a week, and following a 0.3 percent gain on Wednesday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index lost as much as 0.4 percent, as traders weighed the outlook for interest rates and the dollar under Powell, who’s been supportive of current Chair Janet Yellen’s strategy of gradual tightening.
Gold has climbed this year, building on gains seen in 2016, as policy makers opted for two rate increases, and took the first steps in paring the bank’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet that was amassed as the Fed undertook an unprecedented program to revive the world’s top economy. President Donald Trump will announce his decision Thursday at 3 p.m. Washington time. Fed Governor Powell is in line for the post, people familiar with the decision said.
Read More: Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged, Remains on Road to December Hike
“While it is believed that Mr. Powell will resume a very gradual normalization of monetary policy, he is expected to be more flexible in terms of financial deregulation,” Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at ForexTime Ltd., said by email.
The speculation over the Fed succession comes as the central bank upgraded its assessment of the economy and reinforced expectations of a December hike at the end of its policy-setting meeting Wednesday. Investors are also weighing uncertainty about the prospects of Trump’s U.S. tax cuts as there have been conflicting reports when and how the rate on companies would be lowered.
Powell’s appointment to the biggest job in the financial world is subject to Senate confirmation. He’s been a Fed governor since 2012, and in that time has never dissented from a monetary-policy decision. The Washington native would be taking over at a tricky time, with inflation well below the bank’s 2 percent target, while asset prices are at levels considered lofty by policy makers.
Also Thursday, the Bank of England, led by Governor Mark Carney, is expected to raise rates for the first time in more than 10 years.
In other precious metals:
- Silver fell 0.4 percent to $17.0727 an ounce
- Platinum dropped 0.3 percent to $930.25 an ounce
- Palladium declined 0.7 percent to $996.45 an ounce
