Gold price rallies ahead of Fed Minutes release and after Trump mulls imposing emergency tariffs

NEW YORK (January 8) Gold’s price (XAU/USD) are higher for a second consecutive day after headlines came out over President-elect Donald Trump, and after the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) revealed on Tuesday that the prices paid component in the Services sector is turning red hot. The ISM Services Prices Paid index rose to 64.4 in December from 58.2 the previous month. Meanwhile yields rally and equities sink after CNN issues an article that President-elect Donald Trump is mulling issuing an economic state of emergency in order to impose quickly a scheme of universal tariffs, according to several cited sources close to the matter. 

On the economic data front, this Wednesday, all eyes will be on the Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Traders will look for clues about the interest rate path and comments from policymakers from the last Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting in December. Meanwhile, the US Treasury will allocate a 10-year Note, with the benchmark rate just hitting a nine-month high at 4.697%.

Daily digest market movers: Plucking the Minutes for clues

• President-elect Donald Trump is mulling declaring a national economic emergency to provide legal justification for a large scheme of universal tariffs, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, Bloomberg reports. 
• Christopher J. Waller,  member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system, speaks on the US economic outlook at an event in Paris. Fed's Waller said he believes inflation will continue to cool toward the central bank’s 2% target, prompting his support for additional interest-rate cuts this year. 
• At 18:00 GMT, the US Treasury will allocate a 10-year Note. The size of the auction, the already elevated rate levels, and the fact that recent shorter-term auctions faced tepid demand, where demand is normally plentiful, are raising concerns in the market. 
• At 19:00 GMT, the Fed will release the FOMC Minutes from its policy decision in December. 
• In the fallout of the ISM Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) release for December, traders quickly pushed back the first possible rate cut from the Fed in 2025 to July. An interest rate cut was foreseen for June before the data came out.
• President-elect Donald Trump reiterated at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago that US rates will need to come down, according to Bloomberg. 

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