The Fed is launching minutes since the December meeting, with the price of gold still falling by $ 40

(Kitco News) Gold remained close to daily lows after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of the December meeting, which showed broad support for the central bank’s current bond-buying program.

At its December meeting, the Fed kept rates unchanged at close to zero, while President Jerome Powell stressed that the central bank will continue its asset purchases until “the job is done well.”

The minutes of the meeting showed that all Fed officials supported the current pace of bond purchases.

“All participants considered that it would be appropriate to continue those acquisitions at least at the current pace and almost all favored maintaining the current composition of the acquisitions,” according to the minutes published on Wednesday. “Some participants indicated that they are willing to weight government bond purchases over longer maturities.”

The $ 120 billion monthly pace of purchases has been maintained until “substantial further progress” has been made on the central bank’s employment and inflation targets.

There was no significant reaction to the news, with gold prices rising slightly, but still remaining close to daily lows. February Comex gold futures were last traded at $ 1,913.80, down 2.08% on that day.

The Fed’s economic forecasts were updated at the December meeting, with the central bank now expecting the US economy to grow by 4.2% in 2021, the unemployment rate to fall to 5% and inflation to reach 1.8%.

There have been no significant changes in the scoreboard, with rates expected to remain close to zero by 2023.

Powell also said that in the next four to six months the situation will be difficult.

“Clearly, help will be needed there,” Powell said. “We have the flexibility to offer more accommodation … The number of coronavirus cases is so large and widespread that it seems that the impact on the economy will happen. See some slowdowns now and in the first quarter of next year. “

Powell added that the situation should improve by the middle of next year, when people will start to feel comfortable going out and engaging in a wider level of activities. “In the second half of next year, the economy should perform well,” he said.

The minutes also showed that further adjustments could be made to the bond purchase program in the future.

“Some participants mentioned that the committee could consider future adjustments to its acquisitions of assets – such as increasing the pace of acquisitions of securities or weighting acquisitions of securities to those with longer maturities – if these adjustments were considered appropriate, “he said.