Gold Price Pushes To Session Highs Following Dovish Fed Minutes

New York (Aug 16)  Mixed opinions among members of the Federal Open Market Committee on inflation and future interest rate hikes are keeping gold prices bid Wednesday afternoon.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July monetary policy meeting show a strong debate on inflation with some members seeing inflation staying below 2% “longer than expected.”

“Some participants expressed concern about the recent decline in inflation, which had occurred even as resource utilization had tightened, and noted their increased uncertainty about the outlook for inflation,” the minutes said. “They observed that the Committee could afford to be patient under current circumstances in deciding when to increase the federal funds rate further and argued against additional adjustments until incoming information confirmed that the recent low readings on inflation were not likely to persist and that inflation was more clearly on a path toward the Committee’s symmetric 2 percent objective over the medium term.”

Gold prices pushed into positive territory early Wednesday afternoon and have solidified their gains following what some economists have deemed dovish minutes. December gold futures last traded at $1,284.80 an ounce, up .040% on the day.

The central bank also raised doubts as to whether the U.S. government will be able to push forward fiscal stimulus plans.

““A few participants suggested that the likelihood of near-term enactment of a fiscal stimulus program had declined further or that the fiscal stimulus likely would be smaller than they previously expected,” the minutes said.

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