Eventful week for precious metals • Boost to gold-backed ETFs in October • Increase in gold and silver prices • US interest rates remain steady
Chris Howard, director of precious metals at the Royal Mint.
The Royal Mint’s Chris Howard analyses the increase in gold and silver prices, and looks back at what the week has held for precious metals.
An eventful week in terms of both political events and the general impact on precious metals.
On Tuesday, we saw reactions to the US mid-term elections, followed on Wednesday by the start of Diwali celebrations, and on Thursday by the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting.
Let’s take a look at what happened this week in the world of precious metals.
Gold-backed ETFs increase in October
On Tuesday, the World Gold Council announced an increase in inflows of exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) backed by gold in both North America and Europe throughout October.
This flight to safe haven assets coincided with global stock markets suffering their worst October since the financial crisis in 2008.
US mid-term election results cause increase in gold and silver prices
Gold and silver initially increased in price on Wednesday following the US mid-term election results. A split Congress meant pressure on the dollar intensified, dampening any expectations of a major fiscal policy boost.
Since then a bit more volatility has come back into the price, but it was no surprise that it initially reacted the way it did given markets had anticipated this outcome.
US interest rates remain steady
As expected, interest rates were kept on a steady trajectory following the US Federal Reserve meeting on Thursday, causing gold prices to slip in reaction to the rise in the US dollar.
The next interest rate rise is now expected as soon as December – at the Royal Mint we will watch this space and see how gold reacts.
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