On Wednesday, February 19th, spot gold slightly declined in the late trading session in New York, but still reached a historic high. The price of gold fell by 0.10% on that day, closing at $2933.06 per ounce, with the trading range between $2947.01 and $2918.67. At 18:06 Beijing time, spot gold once touched a new historic high but hit an intraday low around 03:00 when minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting were released, before swiftly rebounding. The price particularly recovered after the minutes mentioned a potential pause in the balance sheet reduction (QT).
Meanwhile, COMEX gold futures remained unchanged, reported at $2949.00 per ounce. Although the price of futures neared the record high of $2968.50 achieved on February 11th, it also hit a new intraday low. The publication of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes led to a significant rebound in gold prices, as market expectations concerning future monetary policies encouraged buying from investors.
In other precious metals, the price of spot silver fell by 0.48%, reported at $32.7198 per ounce. COMEX silver futures also decreased by 0.62%, at $33.165 per ounce. Despite fluctuations in gold and silver prices, the market remains highly attentive to the Federal Reserve's policy directions, especially regarding potential changes in interest rates and balance sheet operations.
The release of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes intensified market uncertainty over future policy directions, particularly concerning the possible suspension of balance sheet reduction, increasing investors' demand for safe-haven metals and causing short-term gold price fluctuations.
