Gold rises amid hope for Fed big rate cuts in 2024

Bengaluru — Gold climbed for a fourth consecutive day on Thursday as investors held onto the hope the Federal Reserve would trim interest rates by a significant margin in 2024, even after the US central bank pushed back against the idea of a cut in March.

Spot gold rose 0.5% to $2,046.63/oz by 3.55am GMT. On Wednesday, bullion touched a more than two-week high of $2,055.89 before paring gains to end the session 0.1% higher. US gold futures fell 0.2% to $2,064.10.

The Fed is confident that inflation will come to the desired 2% range, and they have kept the window open for interest rate cuts, just not so much for one in March, keeping gold supported, said Jigar Trivedi, a senior analyst at Reliance Securities.

The Fed left interest rates unchanged and knocked down the idea that the US central bank could cut rates in the spring, but dropped a long-standing reference to possible further hikes.

Futures pared bets for a rate cut in March to 35.5% from 90% at the end of 2023, but increased chances of a reduction in May to 96%, according to LSEG’s interest rate probability app IRPR.

Traders are pricing in about 142 basis points (bps) of Fed rate cuts for 2023, up from bets of about 130bps of reductions on Wednesday morning.

Markets also took stock of troubles at regional US lender New York Community Bancorp, increasing appeal for safe-haven assets such as bullion and US treasury bonds. Yields on benchmark 10-year treasury notes, which are inversely related bond prices, languished near their lowest in more than two weeks.

Data showed US private payrolls rose far less than expected in January. Investors are now awaiting Friday’s nonfarm payrolls (NFP) report for January.

Spot silver climbed 0.4% to $23.01/oz, platinum gained 0.1% to $918.55, and palladium rose 0.2% to $978.50.

Reuters