Platinum is up 0.12 per cent Thursday morning at $US955.90, after hitting a four-week low on Wednesday, and palladium is down 1.80 per cent at $US612.15 per troy ounce, its lowest price in more than six weeks.
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“This is all to say that perhaps the Fed is going to pull off what was once thought of as unachievable and (end near-zero interest rates) without blowing up the market”, said Kevin McNeil, USA rates strategist at RBS, in a note to investors late Thursday.
Among the biggest victims of Yellen’s comments, inadvertently, were oil and gas stocks.
In congressional testimony, Yellen said that if the world´s top economy was “performing well” and, if conditions warrant, a rate hike in December “would be a live possibility”.
Janet Yellen laid out what now appears the base case at the bank – that low unemployment, continued growth and faith in a coming return of inflation means the country is ready for higher interest rates. In Japan, the Topix index climbed 0.9%, while Nikkei Stock Average 225 added 1.03%.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday pointed to a possible December interest rate “liftoff” but said rates would rise only slowly from then on to nurture the USA economic recovery.
The kiwi increased to 92.46 Australian cents from 92.17 cents yesterday after the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy statement indicated interest rates were likely to stay on hold, saying earlier easing and a weaker currency had supported growth. A plurality (39%) of the 796 respondents to our poll, expect the Fed to raise rates in the first half of 2016, while 37% don’t think the Fed will wait that long and will pull the trigger in December.
Oilfield-servicing company Baker Hughes fell $2.90, or 5.3 percent, to $51.56.
These numbers are considerably lower than was normal in past decades because the USA population is becoming increasingly elderly. At that time, the minutes of the meeting showed that there was concern among Fed board members about the pace of economic recovery in the U.S.
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Data will decide the final decision, Yellen said, but it makes tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls data even more important for gold watchers. Natural gas futures rose 4.5 percent, Southwestern Energy shares rose 7 percent and shares of Range Resources and Consol Energy both rose 5 percent. “Markets have had to adjust expectations rapidly”. Brent crude, which is used to price global oils, fell 60 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $47.98 a barrel.
