News
Thursday, October 08, 2026
What’s happening: Gold prices traded higher this morning as investors assessed the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy outlook.
What happened: The yellow metal fell to its weakest level since early August yesterday, as the latest minutes from the FOMS meeting signalled prospects of another rate hike this year.
Meanwhile, weakness in the US dollar lent support to gold prices this morning.
Why it matters: Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, held in September, showed that all 19 members were in favour of a hike in benchmark interest rates. The minutes also showed that most policymakers believed another rate hike would be appropriate before the end of the year.
Investors expect the Federal Reserve to keep its rates unchanged this month, while seeing a high probability of a hike in December.
Higher interest rates and bond yields generally weigh on gold demand as it is a non-yielding asset.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices moved higher following news of US President Donald Trump asking the Pentagon to develop strike options against Iran to be carried out ahead of the midterm elections in November.
Houthis continuing to launch attacks on Saudi Arabia further raised supply-related concerns, lending support to oil prices and sparking speculations of elevated inflation levels.
Weakness in the US dollar lent support to gold prices as a softer greenback makes metals cheaper for foreign currency holders. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, fell around 0.1% to 102.18 this morning.
Spot price for gold rose 0.6% to $4,136.09 an ounce this morning, after hitting a two-month low in the previous session.
In other metals trading, spot price for silver gained 1% to $60.4120 an ounce, platinum jumped 1.6% to $1,660.41 and palladium climbed 2.2% to $1,144.94.
What to watch: Investors will monitor comments from Fed officials and continue monitoring the situation in the Middle East.
Data on initial jobless claims (1630 UAE Time) and wholesale inventories (1800 UAE Time) from the US will be released today. The number of persons filing for unemployment benefits in the US, which declined by 1,000 to 197,000 in the week ended September 26, is expected to rise to 200,000 in the latest week. Analysts expect US wholesale inventories to rise 0.7% to $965.7 billion in August, compared to a 1.3% gain in July.
Context: The AUD/USD forex pair gained this morning amid weakness in the US dollar.
Details: The US dollar, which strengthened after the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting showed a unanimous hawkish tone, pared gains this morning.
Investors continue to expect the Fed to keep its benchmark interest rates unchanged at its meeting last this month. There are growing speculations, however, of an interest rate hike before the end of the year.
Markets see a low probability of the Reserve Bank of Australia raising its benchmark rates in November, after increasing interest rates to 4.60% last week.
Data released this morning showed that Australia’s consumer inflation expectations accelerated to 5.3% in October from 4.9% in the previous two months, surging to their highest level since June. The outlook was reinforced by latest data showing trimmed mean CPI remaining higher at 3.6% year-over-year in August. The figure reached its highest level since September 2024 and was above the RBA’s 2%-3% target range.
Weakness in the US dollar lent support to the AUD/USD forex pair. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, fell around 0.1% to 102.18 this morning.
The AUD/USD forex pair edged higher to 0.6965, while the S&P/ASX 200 fell around 0.6% to 8,677.30 this morning.
What to watch: Amid a lack of major economic data this week, investors await the release of minutes from the recent Reserve Bank of Australia meeting and jobs report from Australia next week.
Employment in Australia, which surged by 39,500 to a fresh record of 14.84 million in August, is expected to rise by 15,900 in September. Analysts expect Australia’s unemployment rate to remain at 4.6% in September, unchanged from the previous month.
Other Markets: US trading indices closed lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones index, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 down by 0.66%, 0.22% and 0.21%, respectively.
Russia announced a massive attack on Ukraine, launching several drones and missiles across the region. The news sent the USD/RUB forex pair slightly lower in forex trading this morning.
Japan’s current account surplus widened to ¥4,062.0 billion in August from ¥3,628.1 billion in the year-ago month. The latest reading topping market estimates of ¥3,194 billion exerted pressure on the USD/JPY forex pair.
Colombia’s annual inflation rate accelerated to 6.29% in September from 6.24% in the previous month, which sent the USD/COP pair higher in forex trading this morning.
France’s current account deficit contracted to €1.5 billion in August from €3.9 billion in the previous month. This being the smallest current account deficit since April lent support to the EUR/USD forex pair.
UK’s Lloyds House Price Index showed house prices came in unchanged year-over-year in September, compared to a 0.4% plunge in the previous month. This sent the GBP/USD pair higher in forex trading this morning.