Today the Federal Reserve convened this month’s FOMC meeting. The most important statement made by the Fed at the conclusion of this meeting was that the United States Federal Reserve does not plan to raise interest rates until 2022. Interest rates will stand where they currently are; at near zero.

For the next two days, members of the Federal Reserve will convene and start this month’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting where they will focus upon the current monetary policy of the United States. As always, they will end their meeting on Wednesday at 18:00 GMT, or 2 o’clock Eastern standard Time tomorrow.

Without a question gold prices resulted in solid gains today. As of 5:03 PM EST gold futures basis the most active August contract is currently fixed at $1705.30, which is a daily increase of $22.30, or a total of 1.33%. That being said gold did close just under two key technical levels. First the current 50-day moving average which for gold is fixed at $1709.10.

This week the two important jobs reports were released. Both reports had a profound and bullish impact on U.S. equities, and had the exact opposite effect on the safe haven asset gold, taking prices dramatically lower.

Yesterday we saw gold prices plunge, breaking the key psychological level of $1700 per ounce briefly, and then recovering slightly in New York to close at $1706. This was the third consecutive day that gold lost value as U.S. equities continued to trade in rally mode.

Gold futures basis the most active August contract has sold off sharply in trading today. As of 4:11 PM EST gold is trading $33.90 lower on the day, and fixed at $1700.10. This after trading to an intra-day low today of $1690.30. Today’s decline is currently just shy of a 2% drawdown.

Gold hit resistance and traded lower on the day. Gold futures basis the most active August contract opened at $1750.30, and then traded to an intraday high of $1757. This became the point when sellers entered the market and took prices dramatically lower. After trading to a low intraday of $1728, gold prices recovered.

Spot gold led the way in terms of price advance when compared to the August 2020 Comex contract, which is the most active futures contract. Spot or Forex pricing is currently fixed at $1738.59 which is an increase of over $9 on the day. Gold futures basis most active August contract is currently fixed at $1750.80, which is a net decline of a $0.90 on the day.

As the last trading day of the month comes to a conclusion, precious metals futures traded moderately to strongly higher on the day. Today’s gains were felt across the metals.

Although the trade war between the United States and China has been put on the back burner as both countries tackle the coronavirus pandemic, recently relations between these two superpowers have certainly gone south. This time the focus is upon China’s human rights policies as it pertains to Hong Kong.