Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold gained 0.2% to close just under $1,348 as the dollar lost ground ahead of the release of the minutes from the Fed's January meeting. The buck then retraced its losses and gold fell back in electronic trade after the minutes proved more hawkish than expected.

The FOMC voted to leave rates unchanged in January, and Chair Jerome Powell said afterwards that the central bank would be "patient" about further rate hikes because of flatlining inflation and growing risks to growth. Several other Fed officials also went public with calls to slow or end rate hikes.

But as the minutes revealed today, the Fed was more divided in that meeting than initially thought. While several members argued that additional rate hikes will only be needed if inflation rises, several others pushed for higher rates based on the current path of the economy. The latter group thought the Fed would need to reassess its "patient" position as more data rolled in.

The slightly more hawkish stance surprised financial markets that were already banking on the end of monetary tightening. The Dow tumbled from gains to losses before rebounding back to a 0.3% gain.

The dollar fell 0.2% against major rivals before the Fed minutes, supporting gold and other commodities priced in it for global trade by making them less expensive overseas. But it retraced its path back to flat after the minutes, causing gold to fall below $1,340 before bouncing back to $1,344.

The other precious metals also finished higher, with silver rising 1.3% while platinum and palladium climbed 1.6% and 0.6%, respectively, before paring gains after hours.

At the Comex close: April gold gained $3.10 to $1,347.90; March silver rose 21 cents to $16.18; April platinum picked up $13.20 to $834.20; and March palladium climbed $8.20 to $1,462.10 an ounce.