No mercy for metals:
Au down $84.80 (4.56%) at $1776.60
Silver down $1.92 (6.91%) at $25.90
Copper down $0.2230 (5.09%) at $4.1620
And from Kitco, June 17, 2021 13:22 (EDT):
Gold, silver in tailspin as Fed turns hawkish, greenback surges
Gold and silver prices are sharply down in midday U.S. trading Thursday, hitting five-week lows and scoring the biggest daily losses in quite some time. The metals saw a very bearish reaction to Wednesday afternoon’s Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that was deemed hawkish on U.S. monetary policy. That, in turn, powered the U.S. dollar index to a two-month high, further hurting the metals market bulls. August gold futures were last down $84.80 at $1,775.40 and July Comex silver was last down $1.882 at $25.925 an ounce.
The surprisingly hawkish FOMC meeting results from the Federal Reserve Wednesday afternoon roiled many markets at least briefly, including equities, currencies and bonds. The Fed left U.S. monetary policy unchanged, as expected. However, more FOMC members are now leaning toward raising interest rates sooner than they reckoned earlier this year due to a stronger-rebounding U.S. economy, the receding pandemic and inflation worries. On the inflation front, the Fed said prices are rising but still not at a problematic rate. The Fed sees inflation in 2021 at 3.4% annually, up a full 1% from the 2.4% estimate forecast earlier this year. Recent U.S. inflation reports are running significantly hotter than the 3.4% annual Fed projection on inflation. At Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference, he did not assuage inflation worries, ostensibly saying the Fed really does not know how much or for how long inflationary pressures will be on the rise.
Gold and silver market bulls need to keep in mind that problematic inflation has historically been bullish for those hard assets, as a hedge against rising prices. Longer-term, it’s my bias that continually rising inflation will rally the metals. Remember, too, that rising inflation and rising interest rates mean economies are stronger, suggesting more consumer and commercial demand for metals. Finally, remember that shorter-term traders are many times fickle. They are now focusing on the Fed not being so easy, after many years of easy money from the major central banks who worked to produce more consumer demand (including for metals)—the same economic element that comes with inflationary price pressures.
The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note is fetching 1.507% Thursday afternoon, well down from Wednesday’s high near 1.6%.....
....MUCH MORE
Tuesday's note on copper:
"Copper prices at 7-week low on Chinese curb concerns"
TL;dr "NOT YET"
