- Gold and silver prices are sharply up and gold hit a four-week high in early U.S. trading Monday, on safe-haven demand amid a very uneasy general marketplace. April gold was last up $25.70 at $1,892.70 and May silver was up $0.669 at $21.18.
To show how much this event has shaken the general marketplace, Goldman Sachs is now predicting the Federal Reserve will not raise U.S. interest rates at its FOMC meeting next week. Said one market analyst in a Wall Street Journal story today: “When the Fed raises rates so quickly, nine times out of 10, it breaks things. We may see more corporate failures; we may see more regional banks go under.” Read a headline on Dow Jones Newswires: “Bank mayhem is now on the Fed’s radar.
U.S. Treasury prices are also solidly up on flight-to-quality buying. Meantime, Bitcoin prices are sharply up. The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index lower after hitting a three-month high last week. Nymex crude oil futures prices are lower and trading around $75.25 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note is presently fetching 3.549%, after recently poking above the 4.0% level.