Market News

Gold (GC=F)

Gold prices edged lower on Wednesday, as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision, due to be announced later in the day.

Gold futures (GC=F) dipped 0.2%% to $4,229.30 per ounce at the time of writing on Friday morning, while spot gold declined by the same margin to $4,199.27 an ounce.

The Fed is widely expected to announce a 25-basis-point interest rate cut on Wednesday, which would mark its third reduction in a row and would take its rate range to 3.5% to 3.75%. Investors will also be listening closely to comments made by Fed chair Jerome Powell in his post-meeting press conference for any clues as to the central bank's outlook for the year ahead.

In a note on Wednesday morning, Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) analysts said: "Beyond the immediate policy decision, our US economists also expect there to be dissents in both a hawkish and dovish direction.

"So to forge a consensus behind a rate cut today, they anticipate the statement and press conference will signal that the hurdle is relatively high for another cut in early 2026.

"Remember as well that we’ll also get the latest summary of economic projections, containing the dot plot for where officials expect rates to move in the years ahead.

"Our economists think the median dots will stay unchanged, consistent with one further 25bp cut in each of 2026 and 2027."

Gold prices have climbed as markets bets have risen that the Fed will cut rates again, as lower rates tend to boost the appeal of the precious metal, as a non-yielding asset.