The price of gold held within a fairly narrow range this week as traders held their breath before the last scheduled FOMC meeting December 16th and 17th. After gold hit a brief three-week high last Friday, the week opened with prices one percent lower. A robust jobs report was released on Friday, pushing the dollar higher and adding more evidence for the Fed to institute a rate hike next week.
Tuesday’s prices fell a negligible 0.01% and flatlined on Wednesday. Gold news this week primarily focused around anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s decision, and so very little price change occurred. Most investors expect the Fed to implement the first interest rate increase since 2006. Gold is a non-interest bearing investment and doesn’t fare as well against higher interest bearing stocks, so the last few months have seen a stalling and a falling of gold prices.
Gold has lost 9 percent of its value this year and is on track for a third year of losses. Spot gold was lower by 0.1% on Thursday, settling around $1,071. Meanwhile, the dollar rose 0.6% and crude oil slid to a near-seven-year low. Friday’s gold prices bounced back a little bit but still ended the week with the seventh out of eight weekly losses.