Gold fell to a six-year low of $1052 in the middle of last week before opening this week (November 30) at $1065.  Gold seems headed for its third straight down year after 12 straight rising years from 2001 to 2012. 

Gold fell to a multi-year low of $1070 last Wednesday before recovering later in the week.  The decline can be blamed on the release of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), in which they all but promised a small rate increase of 0.25% in their mid-December meeting. 

Gold fell to a multi-year low of $1070 last Wednesday before recovering later in the week.  The decline can be blamed on the release of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), in which they all but promised a small rate increase of 0.25% in their mid-December meeting. 

Gold fell to a multi-year low of $1070 last Wednesday before recovering later in the week.  The decline can be blamed on the release of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), in which they all but promised a small rate increase of 0.25% in their mid-December meeting. 

Gold fell to a multi-year low of $1070 last Wednesday before recovering later in the week.  The decline can be blamed on the release of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), in which they all but promised a small rate increase of 0.25% in their mid-December meeting. 

Gold continued to consolidate last week, falling to its annual low of $1080 once again.  The main culprit was the renewed strength of the U.S. dollar, combined with the assumption that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by a small amount (0.25%) in December. In the meantime, the World Gold Council announced on Thursday that global gold demand rose 8% in the third quarter.  Global investment demand rose 27%. 

Gold continued to consolidate last week, falling to its annual low of $1080 once again.  The main culprit was the renewed strength of the U.S. dollar, combined with the assumption that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by a small amount (0.25%) in December. In the meantime, the World Gold Council announced on Thursday that global gold demand rose 8% in the third quarter.  Global investment demand rose 27%. 

Gold fell from $1108 to $1085 in a few minutes last Friday morning after the monthly jobs report came out showing a robust 271,000 new jobs created in October, thereby giving the Federal Reserve the needed ammunition they can cite to raise short-term interest rates by 0.25% at their next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in mid-December.  This news lifted the U.S. dollar and depressed gold in U.S. dollar terms. Gold’s sharp decline may be a gross over-reaction, but the assumption of the press and most mainstream investors is that dollar-based interest-bearing instruments will outperform gold as rates rise. 

Gold fell from $1108 to $1085 in a few minutes last Friday morning after the monthly jobs report came out showing a robust 271,000 new jobs created in October, thereby giving the Federal Reserve the needed ammunition they can cite to raise short-term interest rates by 0.25% at their next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in mid-December.  This news lifted the U.S. dollar and depressed gold in U.S. dollar terms. Gold’s sharp decline may be a gross over-reaction, but the assumption of the press and most mainstream investors is that dollar-based interest-bearing instruments will outperform gold as rates rise. 

Gold consolidated to $1140 last week after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met and issued a “hawkish hint” that they might raise interest rates a quarter-point at their December meeting.  Although 0.25% is a trivial amount and it is way overdue (we’ve been at near-zero short-term interest rates since late 2008), that “hint” pushed gold down.  However, the economic news has been downbeat and the Fed will not likely raise rates if job growth and GDP growth remain anemic over the next few weeks.