(Bloomberg) — Gold fell to the lowest price in a month after the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates and forecast less monetary easing for 2025.
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US policymakers lowered their benchmark interest rate for a third consecutive time on Wednesday, but reined in the number of cuts they expect in 2025, signaling greater caution over how quickly they can continue reducing borrowing costs.
New quarterly forecasts showed several officials penciled in fewer rate cuts for next year than they estimated just a few months ago. They now see their benchmark rate reaching a range of 3.75% to 4% by the end of next year, implying two quarter-percentage-point cuts, according to the median estimate.
Treasury yields and the dollar surged after the rate decision, sending bullion down by as much as 1.6%. Lower rates typically benefit bullion as it pays no interest. Swap traders now see less easing after the statement from the Federal Open Market Committee.
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“We had a hawkish cut today. This is likely to prompt speculators who have outsized long exposure to take profits, which is forcing gold lower,” said Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities. “Gold is competing with fixed income and if the Fed is on a break from aggressive easing, then discretionary traders may want to lighten up.”
Chair Jerome Powell said at his press conference following the Fed decision that Wednesday’s cut was a close call, but the right one.
“We can therefore be more cautious as we consider further adjustments to our policy rate,” he said. Powell also added that the US central bank’s policy rate was still “meaningfully restrictive” and the committee is “on track to continue to cut.”
To make additional rate cuts, Powell said officials would have to see more progress on inflation, which he said has been moving “sideways.”
With regard to the incoming Trump administration’s potential tariffs, which economists see as inflationary, Powell said some policymakers had begun to incorporate the potential impact of higher tariffs. But he added the impact of such policy proposals was at this point highly uncertain.
“We just don’t know, really, very much at all about the actual policies,” Powell said. “So it’s very premature to try to make any kind of conclusion.”
Bullion has advanced more than 25% this year. Spot gold was down 1.5% to $2,606.03 an ounce as of 3:15 p.m. in New York. Silver, palladium and platinum declined.