Commodities, including gold and crude oil, were suffering from speculations that the US Federal Reserve will reduce its quantitative easing program. Comments from policy makers were confusing, but traders believe that an end of QE will may come rather soon. Macroeconomic data from the United States was good, fueling talks about smaller stimulus. The employment data was mixed, but it did not change the outlook for Fed’s monetary policy much.
The Fed is not the only central bank that prefers not to expand stimulus. The Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged at today’s meeting. The decision was somewhat disappointing for market participants as they were counting on additional monetary accommodation. Previously, Japanese officials were talking about aggressive moves to revive the economy. They were fulfilling their promises earlier, but it looks like now they want to pause and assess the impact of their actions.
July futures for delivery of Brent crude oil fell $1.37 (1.32 percent) to $102.58 per barrel as of 22:28 GMT on NYMEX today. Gold futures declined $9 (0.65 percent) to $1,377 per troy ounce on COMEX.
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