Gold falls following Yellen bond-buying support
London (Nov 15) Gold futures eased slightly on Friday, trimming the previous days' gains driven by the remarks of the US Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen testifying at the Senate Banking Committee on her stance on how the central bank should proceed in the near future concerning the bond-buying program.
Prices of gold futures were seen 0.26% down at $1,283.0 an ounce, while silver futures were traded 0.64% lower at $20.509 an ounce, at the time of writing.
The US dollar index was flat, 0.01% higher at 81.0280 at the same time.
Yellen acknowledged that US economic growth has been improving but expressed her support for the continuation of the bond-buying program consisting in pouring $85 billion into the financial system each month.
Yellen thus confirmed her dovish stance on the Fed's monetary policy. She said she wanted to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and a strong and stable financial system, through the continuation of the quantitative easing program, if confirmed as the head of the country's central bank.
Although she recognized the US economy "is significantly stronger and continues to improve", she remarked the overall recovery, especially in the labor sector, "has been performing far short of potential." She thus argued that the continuation of the bond buying program was the right move at present.
Yellen confirmed she believed that "supporting the recovery today is the surest path to returning to a more normal approach to monetary policy," she said, openly signalling her willingness to keep the bond buying program unchanged for an extended period.
