Today the chairman Powell continued the narrative that he and other Federal Reserve officials have been reinforcing, that the Federal Reserve is “in no hurry to cut rates”. 

Gold continues its dynamic rally moving to higher ground for the fourth consecutive day, with the last three consecutive days resulting in a new record settlement price. As of 4:00 PM ET, gold futures basis the most active April contract is currently trading up $11.70 and fixed at $2138.20.

Gold futures have advanced nearly $70 in the last two trading days. Beginning last Friday, gold opened at $2052.80, traded to a high of $2097.10 and settled at $2095.70 after factoring in a gain of $41. Today the strong advance and powerful upside rally continued.

Exceptional, phenomenal, amazing, surprising, astounding, and almost beyond belief are only a few of the many words that can be used to describe today’s exceedingly strong upside breakout in gold futures. Gold opened today at $2052.82 and by the close of Globex at 5:00 PM ET gold futures are up $$41.

There were three primary takeaways from today’s PCE price index report.

Tomorrow, the government will release the Fed’s preferred metric for gauging inflation, the core Personal Consumption Expenditure price index. The most recent forecasts are anticipating that core inflation on a month-over-month basis will double from 0.2% to 0.4%. Compared to one year ago (Jan. 2023) the core PCE came at 0.5%. For the second half of 2023, core inflation was only 0.1%.

After forty years working in the financial sector, I have witnessed many changes. One of the largest transformations has been the process of traders executing trades in stocks or commodities. Exchanges still provide the framework for specific requirements companies must meet to be listed on an exchange, liquidity, and guarantee of performance.

Market participants are shifting their focus to the US inflation report, which will come out later this week. These numbers will have an impact on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut timeline. On Thursday, the government will release the latest inflationary data vis-à-vis the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index.

Even with multiple Federal Reserve officials reconfirming the Fed’s resolve to not raise rates too quickly, gold managed to have a solid gain on the day and week. As of 5:30 PM ET gold futures basis, the most active April contract gained $25.30 on the week, with the majority of the gains occurring today after factoring in a net gain of $18.70, or 0.92% taking gold futures to $2049.40. 

Recorded on Feb 21, 2024,