Gold rallied above $1,900 an ounce for the first time since May after US consumer prices eased, giving the Federal Reserve room to slow the pace of its interest-rate hikes.
(Bloomberg) — Gold rallied above $1,900 an ounce for the first time since May after US consumer prices eased, giving the Federal Reserve room to slow the pace of its interest-rate hikes.
The consumer price index fell 0.1% month-on-month in December, in line with economists’ estimates. The dollar and Treasury yields extended drops following the print, boosting gold as much as 1.4%.
The Fed’s monetary tightening weighed on non-interest bearing gold last year, causing it to drop for seven months through October. It has rallied strongly since then following cooler inflation data that spurred bets the tightening cycle was nearing an end.
Most Fed officials have tried to push back on those expectations, warning that rates will need to go higher to control inflation. Still, Fed Bank of Boston President Susan Collins and Philadelphia’s Patrick Harker both advocated moving to a quarter-point hike at the next meeting.
Swap markets are now close to pricing in a smaller increase following a series of much larger hikes by the central bank. Higher long-term interest rates tend to harm non-yielding assets like gold.
Spot gold rose 0.7% to $1,889.24 an ounce as of 2:18 p.m. in London, after earlier exceeding $1,901. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5%. Silver jumped 2.1%, platinum steadied and palladium declined.
–With assistance from Jason Scott.
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