Gold futures fell for the first time in a three-week losing streak, while its second straight monthly gains were on the back of a stronger US dollar index, And its counterpart, the US economy, the world’s largest economy, including Federal Reserve Chairman and New York Bank Chairman John Williams in New York.
Gold futures for February delivery fell 0.65% to currently trade at $ 1,222.40 per ounce from the opening at $ 1,230.40 per ounce. The US dollar index rose 0.37% to 97.14 from the opening at 96.78.
We followed the Chinese economy, the second largest economy in the world and the second largest industrial nation after the United States revealed the PMI industrial and service PMI, which showed the contraction of the industrial sector to 50.0 compared to previous reading last October and expectations at 50.2, The service sector shrank to 53.4 versus 53.9, worse than expected at 53.8.
On the other hand, we followed the participation of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) member and Bank of New York Chairman John Williams in a panel discussion entitled “The Global Economy: Addressing the Future Slowdown” at the 80th plenary meeting of the 30th Group, in which he expressed his belief that neutral interest rates would be And that it is necessary to maintain the stability of long-term inflation expectations.
Williams also noted the need to study alternatives to the current monetary policy framework, ahead of the release of the Chicago PMI, which expanded to 66.4 versus 58.4 in October, beating expectations for a 58.6 , Coming hours after the Federal Reserve unveiled Thursday the minutes of the FOMC meeting.
We would like to point out that the minutes of the Federal Committee meeting held on 7 and 8 November indicated that there is a close increase in federal funds rates and that monetary policy makers in the Federal Reserve have discussed the timing of a moratorium on the increase in short-term benchmark interest rates in the future. Which has been priced in the markets that the Fed may take a more flexible approach in 2019.
On Wednesday, Fed Governor Jerome Powell, speaking at the New York State Economic Center, said in his speech under the headline “Federal Reserve Framework for Financial Stability Control” that federal funds are “slightly less” than neutrality, A possible moderation in the pace of tightening monetary policy by monetary policy makers at the Fed during the coming period.