Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged
Bullion prices ended higher at Comex on Thursday, 17 September 2015. Gold futures climbed in electronic trading on Thursday, as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. Gold rose after the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee left interest rates unchanged Thursday, but gains were limited since policy-makers indicated they still envision a hike yet this year and some investment flows were going into equities instead.
Comex December gold was up $12.20 to $1,131.20 an ounce.
December silver rose 9.9 cents, or 0.7%, to $14.984.
The U.S. dollar index traded sharply lower after the Fed news, providing support for dollar-denominated gold in the electronic session.
After weeks and even months of speculation about this meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting that began Wednesday morning ended Thursday afternoon saw the Fed leave its monetary policy unchanged. While there was no consensus among traders and investors on whether the Fed would or wouldn't make an interest rate hike for the first time in several years at this week's meeting, there seemed to be a growing sense the Fed would make a rate hike at this meeting. Rising U.S. Treasury bond and note yields (falling prices) this week did suggest the Fed would raise interest rates on Thursday.
The market place was relatively calm, overall, after the FOMC statement. Asian stock markets were mixed on Thursday. China's Shanghai stock index was down 2.1% on the day. Japan's Nikkei stock index was up 1.4%on Thursday. European and U.S. stock indexes were weaker on Thursday morning.
On Thursday, US data showed weekly jobless claims fell, underscoring the strength of the labor market, but declines in August housing starts and the September Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index highlighted potential economic concerns.
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