Gold and silver prices fell in early trading Friday after the Fed’s preferred gauge to measure inflation showed that cost pressures remained elevated last month – likely shutting a door on the chance of policymakers trimming interest rates anytime soon.
Gold was down more than $14 at $2,329 an ounce while silver dipped $0.8 to $30.60 an ounce on the heels of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showing that the closely watched personal-consumption expenditures price index (PCE) rose by 0.3% month over month and 2.7% year over year in April. Both of the precious metals had made gains shortly after the start of the trading day before gradually slipping into the red.
The core PCE index – which excludes food and energy because of their often erratic price swings that make it difficult to get an accurate spending snapshot – rose by 0.2% month over month and 2.8% year over year, according to the BEA report. Core PCE is the Fed’s preferred method to measure inflation.
Although Friday’s data was about in line with Wall Street and economists’ expectations, it still highlighted just how difficult it’s been to reduce inflation for the first three months of this year.
We’re no closer to hitting the Fed’s 2% inflation benchmark, and that will likely put the brakes on any talk of interest rate cuts heading into June’s monetary policy meeting in Washington – and perhaps the immediate future.
Fed leaders have signaled they’re prepared to play the long game, allowing enough time for the monetary policy it implemented to bring down inflation in a significant way before deciding whether to cut rates.
