Gold on its way to fresh all-time high while traders mull upcoming ECB and US GDP

LONDON (January 30) Gold’s price (XAU/USD) is print fresh weekly highs by the hour and is really close to a new all-time high which, for now, still stands at $2,790.11. Bullion was unable to make that happen on Wednesday, after a rather hawkish Federal Reserve (Fed) decision on interest rates delivered some headwinds. The main element that drew all the attention was Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s reaction to questions about United States (US) President Donald Trump and his persistent call for substantially lower rates and borrowing costs. 

A clash is coming, that looks to be certain, between the White House and the Federal Reserve. Fed Chairman Powell persistently refused to deliver any comments on questions from journalists around President Trump. The hawkish tilt from the Fed is a message to President Trump that the Fed remains independent and needs to see a clear and unambiguous weakening in the data to prompt further action.

Daily digest market movers: Hoarding precious metals

• Markets perceived the Fed rate decision as rather hawkish as the Fed does not seem to be in a hurry to lower US interest rates, Bloomberg reports.
• A surge in Gold shipments to the US has led to a shortage of bullion in London, as traders amass a $82bn stockpile in New York due to fears of Trump administration tariffs, the Financial Times reports. 
• The Gold Bar Integrity Database, developed by the London Bullion Market Association, has been launched. The database will trace the precious metal to prevent supply from criminal gangs or conflict zones ending up in bank vaults and stop counterfeit bars stamped with the logos of major refineries from entering the market, Bloomberg reports. 
• The US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the fourth quarter of 2024 will be released at 13:30 GMT. 

FXStreet