(Kitco News) - Gold prices are slightly down and silver prices firmer near midday Thursday. The marketplace is focusing on an important central bank meeting in the western U.S. that began today. December gold was last down $3.50 at $3,385.00. September silver prices were up $0.302 at $38.075.
Stock and financial markets have been quieter so far this week, ahead of the annual Jackson Hole Fed symposium that moved into full swing today and is hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaks on Friday morning and is expected to update the Fed's monetary policy framework. Powell's speech will be the economic highlight of the week for the marketplace and could provide a new perspective on how much FOMC support there is to lower U.S. interest rates in September.
The latest FOMC minutes, out Wednesday afternoon, showed most Federal Reserve officials believe the risk to problematic inflation outweighs concerns over the U.S. labor market at their meeting last month, as trade tariffs fueled a growing divide within the Fed’s rate-setting committee. A majority of the 18 policymakers in attendance “judged the upside risk to inflation as the greater of these two risks,” according to the minutes of the July 29-30 FOMC meeting. Several FOMC members emphasized that U.S. inflation has exceeded 2% for an extended period and that has increased the risk of longer-term inflation expectations becoming unanchored in the event of drawn-out effects of higher tariffs on inflation.
In overnight news, Swiss gold exports to the U.S. surged last month to the highest since March, with shipments of bullion jumping to almost 51 tons in July. Record bullion exports worth more than $36 billion made up more than two-thirds of Switzerland's trade surplus with the U.S. in the first quarter. The Swiss National Bank argued that outsized gold exports to the U.S. shouldn’t be included when analyzing the trade relationship between the two economies.
Technically, December gold futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $3,500.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the July low of $3,319.20. First resistance is seen at $3,400.00 and then at this week’s high of $3,403.60. First support is seen at this week’s low of $3,353.40 and then at $3,350.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5.
September silver futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the July high of $39.91. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the July low of $36.28. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $38.34 and then at $39.00. Next support is seen at $37.50 and then at this week’s low of $36.96. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5.
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