Fed Chair Janet Yellen said, in her prepared remarks at the Jackson Hole symposium, that “Indeed, in light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months.” The markets did
Despite gold’s stellar performance so far this year, The Financial Times (August 24, 2016) chose to headline a front page article “Gold loses shine as Fed decision looms.” In the Commodities Section, a second piece was titled “Gold heads for monthly drop after investors turn anxious over rate rise and weaker demand.” Regardless gold’s performance,
Central bank actions and expectations of central bank actions are driving investment markets: the bond markets, the equity markets and the metals markets. Economic news does not move the markets, except that markets move on how investors think that central banks will react to economic news.