After the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates, the dollar made gains, and gold prices fell, while oil prices maintained their stability.
-
The US dollar is making big gains today
The US dollar made significant gains today, Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point, in line with most expectations, while gold prices fell, and oil prices stabilized in early trading.
Fed policy makers expected more hikes, and keeping interest rates high, for longer than previously hoped.
US Central Bank Chairman Jerome Powell referred to the FOMC’s determination to “calm inflation despite the risks of recession,” expecting the interest rate to exceed 5%.
Gold prices fell
In parallel, gold prices fell by nearly 1%, today, Thursday, after a statement by Powell, in which he said that “next year will witness more interest rate hikes.”
Spot gold fell 0.9% to $1,791.71 an ounce by 07:24 GMT, further retreating from a more than 5-month peak recently recorded. US gold futures fell 0.9%, recording $1,802.10.
For his part, Christopher Wong, an analyst at VOCBFX, said, “The US central bank’s adherence to the tendency to tighten monetary policy is putting pressure on the metal, and that gold price expectations depend on the amount of tightening that central banks – especially the US central bank – intend to do.” from now on”.
And at the beginning of this month, the World Gold Council announced in its monthly report that “Central banks maintained their appetite for the yellow metalAnd his possession was lifted last October.
Gold is known as a hedge against inflation, but high interest rates tend to weaken its attractiveness because they increase the opportunity cost of holding non-returnable metal.
Oil price stability
Likewise, oil prices were largely stable in early Asian trade today, Thursday, as investors assessed optimism related to the demand outlook in China, against the backdrop of a possible hike in interest rates in central banks around the world.
By 01:21 GMT, Brent crude futures rose 1 cent to $82.71 a barrel, before falling slightly during morning trading.
West Texas crude futures, the US mediator, fell 4 cents to $77.24 a barrel, before continuing to decline slightly.
And yesterday, Wednesday, the weekly review of the US Department of Energy revealed, Low oil stocks In the US Strategic Reserve, last week increased by 4.7 million barrels to reach 382.3 million barrels.