Gold: an overview of the market situation

Gold futures rose, restoring much of the lost positions yesterday, amid speculation that the Fed will raise interest rates as planned.

Recall yesterday presented minutes of the meeting FOMC, showed that Fed officials generally agreed that the economy is improving, and there is no more need to use tools such incentives as buying assets, but fears persist that inflation expectations may decrease. While a protocol is not further clarified regarding the possible timing recovery rates, the markets continue to bet on what the US central bank will raise rates in about September 2015. Expectations of growth rates on loans are putting pressure on gold as a precious metal hardly competes with the yield of interest-earning assets at higher rates.

"Expectations of rising interest rates in the United States will continue to put pressure on the gold market," - said Tommy Capalbo, a broker at Newedge Group. "We can see some support from physical demand during the holiday season, but in the long run the price of the precious metal will decline."

Focus also remains a referendum in Switzerland. Recall in Switzerland November 30 will be a referendum on a proposal to ban the country's central bank to sell gold reserves and oblige him to keep at least 20% of assets in gold, compared with 7.8% in October. According to a survey of public opinion, the proposal is 38% of the Swiss compared to 44% in October. "The referendum was the last week of the only bright spot for gold, and investors' expectations have grown, but a new poll shows that the likelihood of adoption of this proposal is reduced," - said a trader at precious metals.

We also learned that the world's largest reserves of the gold-traded exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust on Wednesday fell 0.3 percent to 720.91 tons, almost returning to six-year low.

The cost of December gold futures on the COMEX today rose to 1189.60 dollars per ounce.